Gods Eater Burst: Ash's Tale
by h3AdS1aMM3r
Summary: Gods Eater Burst: Only the protagonist can TALK! Follow Ash in his journey as a Gods Eater as he fights against the aragami, earning friends and maybe a little love as well. Now with TWO protagonists. Read Ragner's Eyes of Insignis to see ragners POV
1. Chapter 1: New type recruit and buddy

Summary: Through the perspective of the protagonist (which is basically the one I used in-game). The story is basically what happens in Gods Eater Burst, maybe with certain twists (we'll see).

PS: There was no Gods Eater in the games section, so I really wanna thank the guy who posted the first story up here.

My first GE burst story so R&R I guess. Help me through, GE fans.

WARNING: I'm (very) bad in language, so please correct me if needed/wanted.

Chapter 1: New Type Recruit, and a buddy

I looked at the sheet of paper that was handed to me. It was stated on top "profile sheet". I scrunched my eyebrows as I read the questions.

Well…I know this is supposed to be a profile sheet, but aren't they just asking way too many questions?

…

…

I know I can't say much but looks like I just have to show you (hey, I'm even gonna TYPE this out for you, be grateful. It's even going to have some juicy bits inside!)

Recruit profile

Name: (Just freaking read the story)

Age: (once again, read)

Hair colour + style: Long, white hair with a bandana tied around

Eye colour (stalkers…): Green

Face: (Its MY FACE)

Skin colour: (I'm Asian, so I'll give you three freaking guesses)

Personality: Read everything I wrote and guess for yourself.

Interests/hobbies: NOT writing this profile form

Likes: (this isn't much different from the above)

Dislikes: The person who made me do this shit

Relationship status: Married/Single/Engaged (circles option 2, sadly)

Any other comments about yourself:

Actually yeah, I've got one.

_Are you actually going to make everyone write this down when you already got their profiles, or are you just plain bored?_

Fine, that was a general statement. Still, it was a statement FROM me, so it can't be that much different right?

Riiggghhhtttt?

…

*sigh*

When is it my turn?

Waiting in the waiting room sucks.

"Alright, number two! It's your turn!"

Oh yay, finally.

I heard my number sound out over the speaker and got up from my seat, not bothering to close the door and leaving it slightly ajar. I found the area which I was supposed to report to. A machine had me scanned from top down. Eyes, face, body all the way to the bottom.

"CLEAR." A mechanical voice sounded as the doors opened.

A bright light shone inside the large, seemingly empty test room of the fortress. I had to walk in as I squinted my eyes. The place wasn't much, just a bunch of old walls with the symbol of what seemed to be a flaming tiger on the wall.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting so long," a voice spoke from the much recently noticed glass window. I saw three men in lab coats, probably scientists.

"Welcome, to man kind's last fortress, Fenrir."

Last fortress? Are you trying to tell me that all the other branches got messed up? THIS is the only one left, the one in Japan? You have got to be kidding me….

"I will now test your compatibility as the anti-aragami punitive force."

"The Gods Eaters."

Wow, skip the formalities, why don't you?

"Please, just try to stay calm. I expect some good results from you."

From ME? What are you my mom? And on that note, who are YOU, really? You sound like a grown up Anakin Skywalker without Darth Vader's mask on.

Oh wait, these guys probably don't know who I am. Might as well try to be a little polite.

"My…"

"If you think you've calmed down enough, go place your hand on that machine in the middle," Vader-voice continued. Hey, if I could shout through thing here, I would. So much for me trying to be nice. But I've watched a lot of movies, and even I know that this thing is sound proof.

Wait, did you just say machine?

OH! You mean that red structure in the middle? Looks like an oversized tattoo machine.

But hey, what was I supposed to do? Shrugging, I walked up to the machine and studied the object on it for a moment. It looked like one of those kinds of high tech swords I played in a PSP game once.

Yes, I still game in this post-apocalyptic nightmare, so what?

So FREAKING WHAT!

Anyways, I stare at the machine, still seemingly suspicious of what it would do to me. Honestly, this thing looked no different from those 13th century execution tools (the one that drops down and slices your head off. Yeah. Wait, that was 13th century?) but it looked only small enough for one arm. Carefully, I placed my hand on the machine and wait.

I'm praying now. Hopefully my arm doesn't get cut off.

…

…

Nothing happens.

_CREAK_

"What the…?"

Suddenly, the damn thing just drops down on my arm. That second, I did something that I rarely did.

I screamed.

Ok, it wasn't much of a scream since I'm a guy, but you get the picture. The pain was a freaking hell lot. I had no idea what was going on inside the machine, but something seemed to be clinging onto my arm. It felt metallic, but yet crawling around my arm like some kind of insect. The 'thing' dug into my arm, and I could literally feel the thing connecting to my nerves.

It was painful, I'll give, but I bore it anyway.

…

Ok, ouch. That was painful.

Fair enough.

When the pain finally subsided, the machine lifted itself of my poor right arm. I noticed a bright red bangle on my arm, though freakishly oversized (fashion statement fail…). I looked at the giant blade in my hand and lifted it up.

With one arm.

Whoa…this thing's as light as a baseball bat. I even gave the thing a few experimental swings, easy handling too. And there's this black substance, looks like a vine. It attached itself from the sword to my bracelet.

"Congrats," Vader-voice said, "You're now the first of the far east branch's 'new type' Gods eater. That is the end of your aptitude test."

Wait, that's it? Laaaammeeee…

"You may go for your medical check up soon. Please use the room on the right to take a little break."

As soon as he said that, the door to the right opened up. I nodded in his direction and made my way to it, not before he gave a last piece of advice, "Oh and, do call anyone of us up if you're feeling unwell."

Yeah, like I even know who you guys are anyways.

…

So, uh.

How do I keep this huge thing?

"Man…wish this could just fold up or something."

Suddenly, in my palm, the weapon DID indeed start to fold up. It folded up so much so that it fit into the bangle. I just stared at it, dumbstruck.

Japan's technology is awesome, enough said.

The door closed behind me as I entered the bright room, sat down, brushed my silver hair out of my eyes and attempted to sleep. The dude was right, although I didn't really feel sick, my body felt tired. But damn, the sofa was hard as hell.

"Hey."

Great, am I hearing voices?

"You okay man?" I heard the voice again and this time, someone jabbed me in the arm. I forced my eyes open and turned to my left and saw a (how did I not notice) young boy. He wore a yellow beanie that covered his reddish-brown hair and matching sweatshirt. His orange Bermuda seemed a little too big for him though, he looked like a clown. There was also a scarf around his neck, though I don't even think winter is here yet.

"Hey, you responded. Whew, I was beginning you fainted right after the aptitude test," he chuckled slightly. Oh, so this guy's a Gods eater too. Is he a new type? Nah, can't be. They said I was the first.

So I'm special, unlike all YOU OLD TYPES! (yeah you)

…

Fine, I'm kidding alright? Back to Earth now.

He began rummaging his pockets as he talked to me, "Hey, I think I got some gum left. Want any?"

Hey, gum!

"Sure," I nodded back to him as he vigorously began to unzip every pocket in his Bermuda, digging for (MINE) the gum. After awhile, he looked back at me and rubbed his head, "Um, woops. I might have just eaten the last piece, haha…"

You LIE!

"So, you're a new recruit too huh?" he studied me up and down and gave me a cheeky grin, "oh well, I'm still your senior by a nanosecond so you'll call me as such."

"Yeah, like that's gonna happen," I retorted with a smirk, "By the looks of it, I'd say I'm older than you."

"Guess so," the beanie-boy stuck out his hand and smiled, "My name's Kota Fujiki, age 15, nice to meet ya!"

Whoa, that was out of nowhere. Oh well, he seems decent enough, so…

"Ash Shikigami, I'm 17, good to meet you, Kota." He looked a little surprised, but shook my hand anyway.

"Wow, you ARE older than me."

In your face!

"…you're not from Japan are you?"

"Yeah," I replied, "I'm from Singapore. You know, that really small dot at the tip of Asia?" He looked at me with that uncertain out expression of his.

"Singapore? Small dot? I don't think I follow you."

Oh well, might as well start with the top. Or more like a summary.

"You wouldn't know, really. The Aragami wiped it of the face of the earth seven years ago." I shrugged as I gave the detailed explanation of the whole story.

Hey, a summary is cutting short wordiness but maintaining description.

Aren't I great?

"Oh um, I…"

"Stand up!" a much older woman commanded (didn't notice, again). She was dressed in white top down with slightly curled raven coloured hair. She held a clipboard in one hand as she gave us the 'evil eye'. By the looks of it, she's probably a senior. Those super-strong-but-weak-on-inside kinds.

Hey, I just judge what I see from anime's. The both of us leapt up immediately anyway.

"My name is Tsubaki Amamiya, and I'll be your advisor," she introduced. Hey, she's pretty hot, but kinda old maybe, probably late twenties. She went on to say something about going for the medical check up right after this, weapons training and blah blah.

"If you don't want to die due to anything stupid, you would answer everything I say with a yes, understand." Huh? She said something?

"Is that CLEAR!"

"Yes ma'am!" we both answered. Man, she's scarier than my math teacher back in 5th grade.

Except maybe my math teacher wasn't this hot.

"So you," Tsubaki pointed at me, "You'll report to Doctor Paylor Sakaki's room at 1500 hours. Take a look around the facilities till then."

"From now on," she continued, "this will be your new home, the far east Fenrir branch A.K.A The Den. Make sure you pay respect to the members of your team, especially your seniors."

I took a good look around me. I noticed groups of people chatting in corner, a pretty girl with a cute pink hairdo laughing among the guys. The merchant at the side selling out goods and stuff. A hot counter girl. There were even a bunch of experienced looking dudes at the corner of the room getting ready for a mission.

Hey, maybe being a gods eater might just all be worth it. Now, I just hope Kota's got the same idea, being the only one like this can get sucky alone.

Let's just hope food and refreshments here are free, because I'm pretty much broke…

…..

Damn.

I'm hungry.

* * *

><p>AAANNNDDD SNAP!<p>

Great job everyone!

Ash: Whew, how'd I do.

Kota: I'd say okay, buddy.

Ash: But really...are the drinks free?

Ignoring them for now, I have FINALLY been able to put uo this GE burst fic that was in M word since...April.

Read and Review pls ^^


	2. Chapter 2: Meet the Higher ups

Hey yo WAZZUP PEOPLEZ?

It's time for another chapter of GEB: Ash's Tale! (sorry for long update)

Now, ROLLZ CHAPTER!

Chapter 2: Meet the Higher ups

Let's see, the time is now…1420 hours. Ah hell, I still have a lot of time to kill, no biggie. Kota went off to get some drinks awhile ago, so I'll just sit here and wait.

Speaking of which though, I never got to finding that what's-his-names lab actually. I heard some people saying that if I took the elevator up to the laboratory, it's the first door in front.

"Hey man, I got that soda for you."

I smiled as I turned to face Kota, who had a can of iced tea for himself and my soda. We did a little cheers and drank down our beverages.

"Took you long enough," I said as I wiped my mouth of the excess, "What were you doing? Vending machine ran outta drinks and you had to find another one?"

"No, I actually went to get my medical check-up done."

Oh, so that's where he…

HEY WAIT A ******* SECOND!

He went to get his medical checkup and he didn't bring me along? I swear, that's the second time he MIGHT have pissed me off. First was the bubble gum, now the sick bay? This world is full of LIES LIES LIES LIES…

*ahem*

I'm sorry, let the story continue. Ignore the Hazama rant.

"Really? So, where'd you find it?"

Kota gestured towards a little flight of stairs. On top of it were some control panels and a weird looking door, "See that thing there? It's a lift. Take it up to the fifth floor. It's the first door in the front which says: Paylor Sakaki's laboratory."

…

That…rusted piece of an excuse for a steel gate is the lift! Suddenly, I don't feel too good about all of this. I just pray it doesn't break down on my way up.

That'd be a REAALLLYYYYY stupid way to die. Word.

"Here," I threw Kota my bag as I crushed the soda can, "I think I'll get there earlier. That way we can start doing stuff faster."

"I don't think that's a good idea. You never know if someone else is up there having THEIR checkup."

SCREW THE RULES! I PLAY BY MAH SHIZ!

"By the way," I asked Kota as I stood up, "what exactly did they do to you in the check up?"

"Nothing much actually. He basically talks to you about some stuff and that's it."

Somehow, I have this gut feeling that's a lie, but looks like I gotta trust him. But I promise you, if this turns out like the gum thing, I'mma kill this guy.

I walked to the piece of tra-elevator and pressed the *up* button on the side. Now, all I have to do is wait.

Yep, I'm gonna wait right here, for the lift.

…

"WHAT THE HELL!" I yelled, gaining glances from people around me. To be honest? I don't really care. People say I have a problem with my head or something I'M NOT PSYCHO with outbursts like that. What can I tell them, honestly? Let's just say my life as a kid had one, very particular, 'incident' of sorts but going there would be boring.

Now I was sure I was waiting for the lift to LET ME IN OR I'LL….

*ding*

Oh, yay!

The lift doors opened up smoothly, revealing little more than a large empty space with a few chatty gods eaters walking out. Oh well, guess I won't be socialising with people just yet, I thought as I walked through the rusty excuse for a lift gate.

"Let's see…rookies section, veternan section. Hmm, this research and lab section looks pretty suspicious." PUSH!

The doors slammed shut almost immediately and I felt the lift start to go up. Judging from the height of the building, I think its gonna take some time to reach the top. Oh well, what I do when I'm bored and waiting? Reaching into my left pocket, I took out my HAND DANDY PSP!

"Flip switch, start game…"

Oh and in case you didn't read the previous chapter (yeah, YOU there who decided to skip my awesome intro chappie), I did, was and am still gaming in a post apocalyptic nightmare, in a world that might possibly end sooner or later (my gut tells me to bet on sooner, but I say later)

"Character select…REBEL 1, ACTIO-"

*ding, doors are opening*

DAAAAYYYUUUMMMMM…and I just started the round. Oh well.

Shoving the piano black device of awesomeness back into my pocket, I stepped out into a rather small looking area. As in…its REALLY small, corridoors which barely stretched tem metres with three rooms at the end, how convenient, must be cutting costs or something.

At the far end of the room was a plain sign which said "Paylor Sakaki's laboratory." Now what was basic manners again?

Knock on the door twice?

Hmm…

"What's UP HOMIES!" I greeted cheerily as I swung open the door.

...

Silence...Do I really have no manners?

ANSWER MEH!

"Hmm…" the man in long coat, frazzled hair and giant glasses looked up at me for a moment, "You got here seven hundred and twenty seconds earlier than I had expected, good to see you, new type!"

Okay…? Glasses dude is a math freak, not really useful info there. And blonde bad-ass looking dude at the corner there was looking at me with…those eyes.

Feels fishy, but once again, I'm always on my defense. And...at least he responded

"I'm Paylor Sakaki," glasses man introduced. Oh, so this was the dude I had to find.

"We'd be seeing each other a lot now so, welcome aboard the crew. But ah…I'm pretty tied up with something at the moment."

He's acting really bro, but the way he squints at me…kinda remind me of Gin Ichimaru or Hazama, but suspecting him won't get me anywhere. Might as well try to play nice.

"Johannes," Sakaki turned to blonde-dude, "how about you get your things done and over with first?"

"Doctor…you should really learn to get your priorities right," Johannes groaned, but only for a moment before facing me, "Thank you very much for taking part in the aptitude test. My names is Johannes von Schicksal. I'm in charge of the Fenrir branch in this region."

Oh sir you have such a badass nam-wait, did you just say THIS region? So there are more? And Vader-voice lied to me in the aptitude test?

LIERS YOU LOT!

*ahem*

"Good to meet you too, sir. Ash Shikigami at your service," I gave my signature grin and outstretched my hand, "but ah…I have to warn you, I'm not one you would call 'clinically sane' so do bear with my behaviour."

He glanced at me, like how all the others did, but shook my hand anyway, "Yes, I do understand your…current predicament. But rest assured, as long as disorder is kept to a minimum, I will try to overlook trouble you may cause…"

Now at least I got that cleared.

"Now, I'll let you know your objectives, as an official Gods Eater…"

* * *

><p>YAAAWWWWNNNN<p>

Boring as *insert extremely censored word here*

That Johannes might look bad-ass, but he definitely knows how to nearly put me to sleep with WORDS. He said some stuff about my responsibilities as a gods eater and blah blah blah, with Sakaki interrupting halfway occasionally (believe it or not, I actually felt relieved when he cut in).

The only thing that really caught my ear was the "Aegis Project".

Johannes said something about when the Aegis Project was complete, we could all be rid of our fear of Aragami. You know what that means?

I CAN GAME IN PEACE (:D)

Another reason why I'm tired? Sakaki gave me something that made me sleep while he collected data. NOW I know why Kota took so long. But…10800 seconds is…

Um…ah screw maths.

Going back down to the lobby, I noticed Kota wasn't there anymore. However, someone I DID see was this older guy with slick black hair and a large brown coat with a giant Gods Eater symbol etched into it.

"Lindow," the receptionist girl addressed him, "the director said that if I saw you, to report to his office immediately."

"Hmm okay," he nodded seriously before waving it of with a goofy smirk, "Don't tell him you saw me, okay!" Hah! Now that was classic! Oh, and he's coming to me.

"What's up, rookie?" he sat down beside me, "The name's Lindow Amamiya." Whoa, he's Tsubaki's brother? At least I think he is. Funny, from that one short conversation I saw, they are nothing alike.

"On paper, it states I'm your leader," he continued, "But ah…as what you all say, screw that nonsense."

I think I'm already beginning to like this guy.

"Ash Shikigami. If that's the case, I must be your new team member?"

"Spot on," he gave me a thumbs up, "Look, I'm a leader but I don't really ask much. I just want you to be someone who can watch my back, alright?"

For this guy, I think it'd all be worth it! I nodded my head furiously, "Yes, sir!"

"Oh drop the formalities!"

We were chatting about some random nonsense for awhile, something about beer and women before Lindow waved to someone who was coming our direction and we stood up.

This one was a chick, with equally dark hair that were cut were cut like a birds wings tucked to the side. She wore this voluptuous tank top and a long, seemingly one legged sash.

"Damn…" I whispered, "who IS that chick?"

"Sakuya Tachibana…" he whispered back, "she's my uh…partner."

"You're hitched to her? Lucky dog…"

"Nonsense, just a buddy."

The chick walked over to us and, whoa, did she just make a PASS at me?

STRIKE!

"Who's this, a rookie?" she asked Lindow.

"Yeah, and I'm ground pounding all of our hard-core rules into him. So take a hike, Sakuya," he said with mock seriousness.

"Yes, boss," she teased him back. Before she walked off, I SWORE I saw her wink at me.

Daaamn, this place is AWESOME! CHICKAS WITH ROCKIN TI-

"Hey, rookie!" Lindow's voice brought me back to reality, "Quit ogling her already."

Damn you...

You're one to talk! You get to see a hot babe like her everyday, and now you tell me NOT to look? Men ARE visual creatures you know. Well, on first sight at least we do take notice of legs, arms, hips, boobs, the usual stuff.

"You're gonna be sent out on a mission now. I'm accompanying you with this one, but that doesn't mean you can take it easy," he waved a warning finger at me.

"Alright, let's head out!"

* * *

><p>Wow…<p>

"This city is…so dead," I muttered as Lindow and I gazed over the large, empty landscape filled only be wandering aragami or half-destroyed buildings. According to Lindow, this place used to be a busy business district.

Of course, before aragami came to tear it down.

"This place has seen better times," Lindow gazed over the empty area. Turning to me, his tone turned till it had an edge of seriousness, "Alright, simulation is going to start, but that doesn't mean the ones we're fighting are pushovers."

"I got three pointers for you," he raised his finger, "One, don't die. Two, if you're numbers up, get out."

"And what exactly does THAT mean…?"

"If you can't handle the mission anymore, retreat," he continued on, "Third, hide. Don't wanna get caught unprepared. And if you're lucky, catch the enemy of guard and give it a good bashing."

Let's see…catch the enemy of guard and, hey.

"That's four, sir."

"Whatever," he waved his hand to brush it off, hah, YOU GOTS OWNED, YO!

"Bottom line is to stay alive and NOT die," Lindow set his razor-blade like god arc beside him, "Do that, and you'll get through the mission."

"Five times, sir."

"Damn it…"

Sharp notice for the win!

"Enough talk, man!" I grinned, wielding my long sword over my shoulder like Lindow did, "Let's slash some aragami!"

We took off, leaping from our positions and into the battlefield. Much to our surprise, our target for the mission, the Ogretail, decided to show up.

"You don't seem at all nervous," Lindow said as the Ogretail started lumbering towards us.

"Trust me, I've seen…" I didn't finish as the Ogretail swiped at us with its tail. Lindow raised his shield in a guard stance, softening the impact. I on the other hand, got wacked face-to-tail.

I felt my face, it was bleeding a little.

"What are you doing?" Lindow called out to me, "fight back!"

Like I needed you to tell me that, I thought as I got into stance. With the god arc enhancing my physical aptitude slightly, I leapt into the air, twirling my body and spun myself forward. The blade cut through the ogretail, leaving it bleeding at the side.

Lindow wasted no time as well, charging forward with a series of close ranged slashes. Seeing it reeling, I ran forward and stabbed in square in the face. It didn't die, but it got knocked to the ground.

At the side, Lindow heaved his weapon back. Slowly, a large, black mouth formed from the blade.

"Alright, dig-in!"

Lindow pushed the mouth-blade forward, letting it bite of a small chunk of the monster. The mouth slowly retracted into the blade.

"Whoa!" I called out to him, "how'd you do that? That was some wicked stuff!"

Lindow didn't say anything, but it wasn't like he needed to, as I gaped at the sudden change in him. As the ogretail got up, he practically flew towards the thing, stabbing and hacking at it. It wasn't long before the ogretail fell to the ground.

"Wow…" I whistled as his weapon took a huge chunk out of the aragami, "as I asked, what the friggin' hell was that?"

He seemed relatively surprised at this, "You don't know after all huh? This being your first mission and all."

"You see, the god arc reacts to the cells of the aragami, otherwise known as "Oracle Cells". If the god arc devours these monsters, part of the oracle cells are extracted and converted into energy beyond human comprehension."

Long, yet easy to understand…

…

CRAP! I think I just forgot.

"It's a lot to suck in, don't worry about it, you'll get used to it," Lindow grunted and glanced at his god arc, something shining in the middle, "you can also get some raw material from these monsters. Use it to upgrade your stuff."

Let's see, mental note: Raw materials can upgrade stu-

ROAAAARRR

OH WOW, INTERRUPT MY NOTE TAKING WHY DON'T YOU!

The two of us leapt back at the sound of the roar. Slowly, three more ogretails made their way towards us.

"Hey, boss man," I turned back momentarily, "I thought the mission said there was only one?"

"Well, maybe this thing had kids?" Lindow let out a nervous laugh as he drew back, "hey, to err is human, remember?"

LIE TO YOURSELF!

"Well, I wanna go back and grab a drink. Let's go!" I wasted no time in charging head-first, Lindow behind me. I propelled forward, slashing through the first one in front while grazing its friend beside it. Boss man took an ogretail solo.

"Two versus one huh?"

Trust me, I'm way more nervous than I look. And what's with this crank over here? No harm trying to pull it-

*Swipe*

That white walking piece of worm attacked me while I was THINKING again! Alright, dick heads, let's CRANK it up!

Literally.

Pulling the crank and letting it slide back into position, the blade in my hand morphed. In fact, it morphed so fast I swung my arm up, forcing one of the ogretails to back off.

"Hey…what the heck is this?"

Down in my hands was a large, long barrelled object I could only make out as a portable cannon…

"So that's what a new type can do," I heard Lindow mutter over the stabbing of his god arc, "Hey rookie! Try pulling the trigger, ammo's limited so watch it!"

*ROAAAR*

SHUT THE HELL UP!

I pulled the trigger, continuously in fact. In a rapid fire motion, flaming bullets shot out of the cannon and into the aragami's face. Figuring out a new battle plan, I pulled the crack and rolled forward. As the weapon was about to fully morph, I thrust the blade forward, ramming it into the nearest aragami.

"I got your back," Lindow quickly jumped in and saved me from the seemingly forgotten second ogretail, "Pain in the side, I know."

"You're telling me," I replied as Lindow's god arc devoured the aragami again.

Alright…if he can do that so can I!

Positioning my hand backward, I felt a certain energy rush through my veins. Like Lindow, I could see a huge mouth growing in the front of the god arc.

The ogretail, like the dumb aragami it was, ran towards me.

Heh heh, this is gonna be even more epic than my Blazblue air combos.

"CHEW ON THIS, BEEYOTCH!"

* * *

><p>And Wrap up!<p>

Sorry for a load of ****, just wanted to let ya guys know the fic aint dead.

R&R pls!


	3. Chapter 3: Meet everyone else almost

WTF IS UP, LADIES AND MENTLEGEN :D

Time for chapter 3, and I STILL do not own anything (cept Ash, of cos, he's my crazy piece of nonsense)

Chapter 3: Meet everyone else (most of them)

_Previously in GE Burst: Ash's tale…_

_The leader_

"_The name's Lindow Amamiya."_

_First mission_

"_Hey…I thought the mission said there was only one Ogretail!"_

"_Maybe this thing had kids?"_

Ok, SCREW THAT! That last chapter had nothing much worth flashbacking!

Oh wait…Sakuya…that chick with tits…DAAYUUUM.

* * *

><p><strong>In present time…<strong>

"_We now see Lindow Amamiya and the first ever AWESOME new type recruit battling against a group of ogretail. Obviously, the new type is kicking ass…"_

…is what I would have told the news reporter to say IF it was a broadcast.

Right now, my god arc just bit of some ogretail ass and I'm seemingly on steroids. Lindow was right, after devouring, I DO gain heightened human responses. I could dash and roll about a metre longer (hell yeah), have seemingly longer stamina and my favourite.

The DOUBLE JUMP!

In fact, I think I'm having some fun with this!

"Nyeh-nyeh! Can't TOUCH THIS!" I taunted the ogretail as it made a futile attempt to bite me. I must say though, biting of a chunk of its ass DOES give it an awesome fashion statement.

"Hey rookie!" Lindow called cheerily over the sound of his god arc devouring, "I'm all done here. Finish it off and let's head home!"

Aw…I wanted to poke it some more.

"Yes, boss-man!"

Pulling the crank, I switched to my assault rifle and launched my newly earned three way spike into its eyes. The thing screamed and stumbled around. Lunging forward, I stabbed the blade through its mouth…a little TOO much.

Yuck…my hand is soaked in aragami blood…

"So," boss-man came over and patted me on the back, "how did it feel? Your first mission and all?"

"No sweat at all!" I grinned as I let my god arc extract some materials, "in fact, I think I could get used to this kind of life!" I mean, what's not to like? With awesome mechanical interchangeable-gun-to-sword contraptions that eat stuff, along with chicks with tits?

I call for awesomeness.

"Glad to hear you're taking it well."

*ring ring*

"Oh, excuse me," Lindow dug into his pocket and pulled out a phone (he brought that into battle…?), "Hello, Lindow speaking."

I got curious. Who would call at a time like this? We're still on a mission. Well, TECHNICALLY since I still haven't collected my money from what's-her-name chick at the counter. I think it was…Hibari?

"Yes…yup mission all done," I heard him say as he lifted the god arc over his shoulder, "…lecture? Alright, I got it."

*click*

"So boss-man, what's with the whole lecture thing?" I asked as we trudged back to the den.

"Oh. Doctor Sakaki called in. He says you and Kota are up for some lecture or something."

….

….

WHAT! A LECTURE!

NOOOOOOOO!

* * *

><p><strong>Two hours later…<strong>

"Mmmfff…."

"Oi…Kota."

"Five…more…minutes…"

BAM!

I slammed my fist on the table, waking Kota up, "Dude, Doc's lecture is over. Let's get outta here." Actually, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I was gonna ask someone why I friggin nuclear warhead couldn't blast out aragami, but then I found that only our god arcs being charged with oracle cells and all could beat the living shit out of it.

Kota and I walked out of the lab. Near the elevator, we found a red-haired kid with a cap and green jacket sitting down and drinking a can of soda. Noticing us, he crushed his can and stood up.

"Are both of you the new recruits?" he asked, sounding a little unfriendly, "Tsubaki said I should go meet up with you guys."

Whoa, a little hostile there friend. But then again, I'm not surprised. Bet he's one of those rush in and devour types…

"Yeah, we're the new rookies. Though I must digress that combat is way easier than it looks," I shot him a smirk and shook his hand, "Ash Shikigami and Kota Fujiki. I got the feeling we'll be seeing each other a lot."

"The confident type huh?" he smirked back and gave me a firm handshake, "Shun Ogawa, try to catch up quick or you'll fall behind fast."

"I'll remember that, hat man."

As we talked, I found out from Shun that the den classifies several gods eaters based on speciality. This speciality is based on the Gods Eaters attitude on how he or she reacts towards the battle. The data would be then recorded into the control unit within the God Arc and then given a class name. The classes ranged from stuff like Assault, sniper, medic, scout and yada...yada.

Alright, men, I'm so gunning for assault. Head on ramming into your face is my style!

"They classify the newbies as "recruits" but don't let that get to you," Shun explained, "the den will be keeping an eye on your progress and will classify you guys accordingly."

For a rough sounding guy, he's pretty nice. Still, I probably won't consider him bro yet. Only Kota bears that title (and maybe Lindow too).

*ding, doors are opening*

As the lift gates opened, I could see Shun palming his face. From the lift outstepped a pretty pink-head dressed in green overalls and what I could make out as a black singlet inside.

CHICK METER ACTIVATE!

On a scale of one to ten, I think I'll give her a seven. Not a bad score actually. I actually have pretty high standards for your information.

…

That MIGHT be a lie though…

"Kanon…" Shun groaned in slight annoyance, "what are you doing on this level?"

The girl looked pretty nervous when she faced him. Kota nudged me in the ribs and whispered, "Hey, what's up with them?" We looked back and forth the two of them. Shun's face pretty much said 'pissed' and the girl seemed to be having trouble even talking.

"Um…"

Oh HEY, she CAN speak.

"That…that's my question Shun," she stuttered as she spoke, "why are YOU here? Weren't you supposed to get the new recruits? This IS the rookies section isn't it…?"

Hey…what are we INVISIBLE? DAMN YOU WOMA-

"Kanon…" Shun palmed himself again, "Two things. One: this is the LABOARTORY LEVEL! L.A.B.O.R.A.T.O.R.Y! And second: Who do you think these two guys are?"

Seemingly ignoring her, he turned back to us, "Sorry, Kanon's kind of a ditz. Oh look, I better go first. Go find Tsubaki soon alright?" He quickly hit the lift open and got in. Turning back to the girl, Kota started talking, "Hey, what's up with you and that Shun dude? Seems like you guys didn't get off a good start or something?"

"Oh it's a long story," the girl let out a nervous laugh, "oh, you two must be the new recruits. I'm Kanon Daiba." The pink haired girl outstretched her hand. Kota shook it eagerly and introduced himself.

"Ash Shikigami, first ever new type here at your service, miss," I did a mock bow, which Kanon giggled slightly at, "hope to learn the ropes from a senior." At the mention of 'showing the ropes', she suddenly got EVEN MORE nervous…

Man, am I THAT unnerving? Seriously, what part of me says abnormal?

WHAT PART OF ME!

"Honestly…I've been around the den for awhile but, I still haven't really familiarised myself with the place yet," she suddenly faced the floor, "In fact, in combat, most of the other guys like Shun say I'm more of a hindrance than a help…"

Ouch, hindrance is one shit of a word. How bad could she be, friendly firing all the time by accident or something?

Ugh, I better not start letting out loose curses here, God knows it might really happen.

"Hey, don't look so down," Kota shot her a sympathetic look, "it can't be as bad as the other guys say it is, right Ash?"

"Yeah. Ah hey, I got an idea!" I clapped my hands together, "how about one of these times, I bring you out for a mission? I mean, me and Kota. The three of us could learn together?" Hey, I can be considerate at times too alright? I'm not a total jerk ass like half you guys make me out to be.

That's only 70% lying, ladies and mentle-gen.

Kanon's face lit up, seemingly excited by the idea, "Really? Are you sure you're fine with that?"

"No problem," I grinned and took her hand, "especially for someone as sexy as yourself, I'd be honoured to lead the lovely lady along the way."

Ok, hit pause.

I know what you all are thinking, I SO KNOW IT! First day and I'm already hitting on a babe huh? Am I awesome or am I awesome? Oh man you should LOOK at her face, she's blushing so mu-

"Ah-ha that's his way of saying hi, don't mind him," Kota laughed nervously and grabbed my shoulder, "c'mon dude."

HEY YOU SONUVA-

Before I could even finish my epic speech of manliness, Kota dragged me into the lift and forced it shut.

"Dude, what the hell are you doing?" he asked quickly, "you're going to make a bad impression on the cuties."

I almost wanted to snort, BAD IMPRESSION? As I said, she was so falling for me, one more push and I might have just…well ALL YA MEN OUT THERE KNOW IT.

Rolling my eyes, I nudged him with one of my folded arms, "You're just jealous cuz the girls falling for me aren't ya?"

"H-hey! That's not true…well not totally true at least."

"ADMIT IT! GUILTY OF COVETING…"

"I honestly think coveting isn't the right word to use, man…"

The two of us continued mindless arguments as the lift slowly went down. In the midst of it, I thought I even heard Kota mention a thing or two about that Sakuya chick.

Which I only replied with this, "Back off, she's MY SLU-woman!"

"Dude, what are you aiming for, a harem ending?"

That's another 30% lies, 68% truth and 2% load of bullshit. You decide, readers.

*ding, you have reached the entrance lobby*

Oh? This lift was much faster than I last remembered it to be.

"So uh…how about tomorrow? Lunch or dinner?" I heard this not-so-but-kinda-manly voice from down the stairs. Seems from this angle, some raven haired dude was trying to hit on Hibari.

Well you wanna know what I say?

NO ONE TOUCHES MY-hmm…actually, I think I'll let this one slide. Being the counter girl and all she must have many admirers, anime's say that at least. I hate to admit but, despite my awesomeness at getting chicks I think this one could be allowed to be let go from my grasp.

Consider yourself lucky, dude whose name I don't know yet.

"Why don't you introduce yourself to our fellow rookies here?" Hibari suddenly said out loud, glancing to our direction and giving me (yeah, she looked at ME) a pleading look. Of course, can't NOT help a damsel in distress. Like the men we were, Kota and I made our way to not-really-serious-looking dude.

Now its time for a recap on my list of dumb as crock nicknames…

Kota: Baggy pants/Brota

Sakuya: (ugh…too many, CANT LIST DOWN ALL THOSE BODY PARTS AND CURVES!)

Lindow: BOSS MAN!

Shun: Hat man

Hibari: Counter girl (sounds slutty for some apparent reason. Hmm…)

Dude-I-don't-really-know: I DON'T KNOW!

"Oh hey. You must be the new type and the other recruit," he shook both our hands, pretty much like everyone else did. Man, can't someone other than Brota (you got a problem with that) act NOT normal here?

WHERE IS THE LIFE IN YOU PEOPLE!

Although and that note, Kota didn't seem offended that we were classified differently. Glad he understands my supremely higher significance of being a NEW TYPE. Still, not like most people go like "OMG OMG! IT'S A FRIGGIN NEW TYPE! LET'S DRINK HIS BLOODZ…" and stuff like that. Sometimes, normal for me is good.

Under lie number 3 today.

…I am such a lier…and I don't even know of that was SPELT correctly (meh). And now Kota said he needs to pee…

Oh well, more spotlight for me!

The dude introduced himself as Tatsumi-O-Mori. He likes Hibari (what? That was the first thing he told us outright, and everyone else didn't seem to bother like it was normal occurrence). Tatsumi gave us some crap about how to file mission and stuff like that, which I already knew.

Tatsumi-O-Mori eh? That sounds like an extended version of TOM.

Of course…he dropped the chat after awhile and started hitting on Hibari again…

BISH!

"Hey Tatsumi!" an arrogant sounding voice came from the mission entrance point, "quit hitting on Hibari and hurry for our mission!" I saw some rich looking blonde man waving, half annoyed at Tatsumi. I took one look at him, and knew that for the rest of my life here, he's gonna suffer with me.

"Hey!" he came down eventually and folded his arms, "lets go already. I don't want the pay reward to decrease too much because we were 'slacking off' again. And since Kanon's coming with us take extra care not to get shot."

"Hey there!" I grinned cheesily and stuck out my hand, "you must be a senior, I'm A-"

"You must be that new type recruit," he snorted and pushed my hand away, "I'm sorry but I'm very busy. And I don't think it is proper for me to introduce my name to someone…of a fool such as yourself."

Whoa, dudes got one hell of an attitude. Hey, we could have a competition.

"Hey whatever. I don't really care. Names Ash Shikigami, bitch, get that remembered," I gave him my not-so-widely-used middle finger salute, "And as for you, captain prick, I'll say you watch your attitude. Once I overtake ya, you'll be begging to kiss my ass!"

That REALLY seemed to piss him off. Hey, not my fault I wanted to be a jerk, captain prick here started some in face bitching so I thought I'd show him some moves from the master.

"Why, you have some nerve, using such profanity like that."

"Nerve?" I gave him my signature in-your-face-bitch look, "not really. Its just that I have some balls which are definitely WAY bigger than you can ever find, small balls."

"Karel…" Tatsumi nudged him in the ribs, "even I agree you went kinda far. But rookie, at least try to respect your seniors man."

"Not this prick I won't!"

I get the feeling this is a start of a beautiful friendship…

* * *

><p>AND DONE!<p>

Ash's current nicknames for people (re-check)

Kota: Baggy pants/Brota

Sakuya: (he can't list it down)

Lindow: Boss man

Shun: Hat man

Hibari: Counter girl

Tatsumi: TOM

Karel: Captain Prick/Small balls

So, how'd ya like Ash's ***hole side XD?

R&R


	4. Chapter 4: A serious History

A/N: Welcome back, to, another episode of Ash's Tale!

In this one, we see Ash being serious and slightly emotional.

Warning: Its a very short, somewhat filler chapter so you guys won't get bored yet.

Double warning: Serious, UN-Ash like stuff ahead

Chapter 4: A serious History

After waving captain prick and TOM off, I hopped onto an empty couch in the lobby and stretched my legs lazily across the table. Having forgotten my objective goal in finding Tsubaki, I stared up at the ceiling and started to think epic flashbacks (LIKE A BOSS).

Now I never really told you why I came all the way to Japan's Fenrir Far east Branch did I? Listen up, because this one has all the juicy but extremely serious bits inside. Ignore me if you want for now, but whatever works for you people.

It's awkward, really. I have an uncle, just one. My dad had different parents so he was kind of like a step-uncle. He went to work in Japan, only a day after that did the whole aragami thing started to happen. I never really saw uncle often, but he was a cool guy, taught me a whole lot of Japanese too, kind of like a teacher with way too big a moustache.

Then, back in Singapore, everything went to hell.

Being a small country and all, the aragami easily wiped it out. One by one my friends and relatives fell prey to aragami. My parents and I tried to go into hiding. Unfortunately, as I mentioned earlier, Singapore is way too small a country to hide from huge things such as aragami. That was when all that two years of hiding came to nothing.

When we were eventually routed by an three ogretails and this giant monkey thing. My parents told me to hugged me and told me to run. I didn't, I was too scared. Then, everything came fast, the three ogretails leapt at my parents and the monkey thing punched (yeah I'm serious) me to the side. From afar, I could see blood on the ogretails mouths.

It was sickening to already know who's blood it was.

The ogretails were much smarter than I gave them credit for, though. They noticed I wasn't dead yet, or just decided to feed on me after my parents. But I could guess it was the first one.

Why?

The first one stuck its spiky tail into my arm and I screamed in pain. It was horrible, my blood spurt from my arm like….I don't even know what! The second and third one tried to stab me in the stomach, but only one of them got so far into me and I blacked out.

I don't remember clearly after that, but I could make out a silhouette of a man slashing through the aragami before I went out.

The first colour I saw when I first woke up was white. That colour, to me, only meant one word.

Hospital.

My mind whirred with nonsense and crap. Where was I? How did I get here? Why are people speaking Japanese?

"Japanese…?"

I could hear the doctors talking about me. As I was the only person in the ward, I figured it was me. There was another, much more gruff voice talking outside.

"Barely made it…brain damage…"

"Loss of blood…needed to replace…I'm sorry…"

The last one went kind of like this.

"The hell…you gotta be fucking kidding! No way am I letting him live like this…"

I'd later find out that voice was my uncle, Tooru Ryusaki (different parents remember?). Being a very direct person, he told me about the things that happened. The rescue in Singapore when he heard that it was almost destroyed. The fact that he came back to find me and my parents.

The fact that he became a Gods Eater.

Adding all the nonsense about why he joined up, it was a lot to take in for me. Not long after I was released, uncle signed a form that said he would adopt me and would be my guardian. I thought this was the best thing that could have had happened. Someone was finally there to take care of me.

It wasn't much better.

His job as a Gods Eater had him stay at the branch for long, so he only came home about twice a week. He was surprisingly rich though, even giving me his old PSP he used to play for leisure and a few games before the whole aragami mess. Whenever he was gone, he would get this old dude, Momotama-san I was asked to call him, to look after me. THAT dude wasn't even around all the time, bout twice a week too.

He was nice, like my uncle too. Sometimes he would bring my out for walks or tell his old tales as a Gods Eater. But when he wasn't, I would then go back to my life of surviving. Inside AND outside uncle's house.

Then the news came.

It was like a double shock to me. After two years, a messenger came to my doorstep. At first I thought it would be that new friend I made on the street that would run visit me once in awhile. But no…

It was a messenger from the Far East Branch.

He merely asked, "Are you Ash Shikigami?" I grinned broadly and replied him with the usual, "Sure am! If you're looking for uncle I'm sure he's back at the branch looking for a wife or something."

Ignoring me, the man started to speak about how much of a good man my uncle was in helping the Far East Branch despite the fact that his life was on the line everyday. Uncle once told me that should he die, not to grieve but to move on.

That test came from that day on.

"I'm incredibly sorry for your loss. He left you a message, contents only to be shown to you."

The man handed me an envelope. In it was a message from uncle.

_Hey Ash,_

_If you're reading this I uh…kinda died on a mission or something I guess. _

_I know I'm not the best guy with words but, I just wanted to say I loved ya. Even if you felt I didn't really, I did. As I said, I'm not good at expressing stuff. Maybe that's why I never got a wife, HAH! _

_Still, the news must be quite a shock to you huh? I'm sorry, really. I keep telling you that one day we'll see the end of this age of monsters eh? Well, maybe it's not me that's going to end it, maybe another generation will end it for us._

_Kiddo, do you remember when I visited you back when you just finished Kindergarten? You said you wanted to be a hero right? _

Hah…I so remember that.

_Well lemme tell you this, in this world, there are two kinds of people now. The first are folks like yourself, those just trying to survive in this nasty rat-hole called Earth. _

_Then there's the second kind: Gods Eaters._

_I'm sure you're old enough now to know what I'm trying to tell you, hero. _

_Remember, ya little rascal. I'll always be watching from above._

_Love, Uncle._

_PS: If you spoil that PSP, I'll come haunt you!_

I don't really need to tell you what happened after that do I?

I broke down and cried in an extremely uncool fashion. I've never cried like that before, not even at my parents deathbed. Well, they were technically eaten alive and…that brain damage had screwed some of my mental capabilities. Ever since then, I've been pondering over the letter. Momotama-san stopped visiting me for obvious reasons. The last I heard of him was him retiring as a Gods Eater.

But have you ever wondered how I survived in this crazy, apocalyptic world?

That's a story for another time.

Just thinking about it makes me want to tear up and cry. But hell no am I going to do that. I'm a Gods Eater now, I'm gonna be a hero. When that happens, I'll save everyone.

And when I save everyone, I'll date some chicks…

And then I'll get married.

"Damn…" I wondered aloud, "This is so unlike me…"

I know you guys have only seen me for the past three chapters or so, but hey, awesome men like me have their reminisce moments too to.

*Beep*

Bloody loudspeaker, break me out of my thoughts why don't you?

*This is an announcement made to the whole Far East Fenrir Branch*

Oh great, what now? An ogretail infestation? I better get read-

*Would the new recruit by the name of Ash Shikigami report to the executive section to meet head advisor Tsubaki Amamiya, effective immediately*

I could see Hibari at the counter talking into the microphone piece as she glared into my direction.

"Yeah, yeah whatever."

Grabbing my white coat, I threw it on and walked towards Hibari, "Hey, if Tsubaki comes down this way before I find her, don't tell her you saw me."

Alright…I think I'm feeling a whole lot better after talking to myself for a few pages or so.

…

What? Is breaking the fourth wall not allowed in here? If so, you can go jump into-

*I repeat, report to the executive section immediately*

"And for your information," she removed the mic and spoke to me with a smirk, "I DID see you."

Damn…

* * *

><p>So, how was it? Ash's Serious past?<p>

R&R


	5. Chapter 5: Back to more Stuff

A/N: Whoa…I'm on a roll.

SO LITTLE LOVE FOR ASH's SERIOUSNESS LAST CHAPTER! Why do you people love brain damage so much?

Ash: :D

Me: Screw off

Authors note: By the way, this fic will be somewhat Joint with Ragner's fic, Gods Eater Eyes of Ignisis. Expect to see plot twists, parodies, and TWO (yes, TWO) protagonist communicate and do shiz together. So watch as hilarity and shiz ensues!

Chapter 5: Back to more stuff

*Ash Shikigami, this is your last warning, report to the executives section or-*

"Hey Hibari?" I grabbed the mic away from her, "do me a favour and don't talk into it. I assure you I'll repay you with the most awesome date ever!"

Yep, it's me again! I got over my less-than-five-minutes of emo time and am now back to my old self again! I mean, who'd want to read about a depressed Ash?

Right ladies and mentle-gen?

"You do know there's not much to see considering the fact that the aragami's have killed nearly everything right?" she interjected calmly, "and can you, please, just go already. I'm sure Tatsumi'll give me a handful when he gets back."

Okay, hit pause. I know what I said back earlier in the day, that I don't mind ser TOM (don't get it why? Read the first letter of each part of his name) getting the girl. HOWEVER, I didn't say he wouldn't have challenges to cross now would he. Of course, one of that challenges, which would undoubtedly be the hardest one too, is ME! ASH SHIKIGAMI, THE EPIC LADIES MAN (soon).

"Shikigami?"

…

…

OH SMACK!

Not wanting to move too fast, I slowly turned my head as Hibari giggled softly. There, behind me, with boobs not really too much to my liking, and a stern face, stood Tsubaki Amamiya, the person I was supposed to meet half an hour ago. Right now, she had this scary-as-crap death glare which could kill a cat just by looking!

Scratch that, I can't even begin to describe how terrified I am now.

"Honestly," Tsubaki led out a disappointed sigh, "and to think Hibari has to deal with TWO suitors now, one of them being a guy who doesn't know half the things about his job too."

"Oh, ma'am, you wound me so," I feigned hurt, but laughed it off immediately, "So, you wanted to see me for a special reason? What might it be? Dinner? I don't mind but older women, seeing as I don't usually discriminate against any sort."

"Shikigami?"

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Shut up."

Fine…spoil my happy mood why don't you people? Seriously, no one has ever tried living out fun here before? Maybe they should all just go to the beach and try to NOT get killed. That'd lighten up the mood so much.

"Your next mission is to hunt down two cocoon maidens that have appeared in the wailing plains. It should be noted that these are low-level aragami just like the ogretail, but that doesn't give you an excuse to let up and get yourself killed," Tsubaki gave a mission briefing which bored me half to death. Man, why can't any of these missions like be hunting those big boss type ones like the monkey one I saw the last time, at least GIMME A DAMN CHALLENGE!

"So, who's going to be accompanying me this time round? Lindow again? Shun, Tatsumi or maybe even that Kanon girl?"

"The one accompanying you is also a long time senior and Gods Eater, Sakuya Tachibana."

…

I heard that right, right? I'm sure I did right?

Sakuya Tachibana is accompanying ME, THE AWEOSME OF AWESOME, ON A MISSION!

SCORE ONE FOR THE NEW TYPE, YA LOSERS!

**Mission Location: Wailing Plains**

OH WHAT THE HELL! Why is there a mofo-ing tornadp in the middle of this damn place? Strangest part, it was just…THERE! It didn't even freaking move. Damn, maybe this mission wouldn't be such a BREEZE (get it) after all. I mean, won't the tornado like freaking ram us?

One second…

Two seconds…

Hmm I guess not.

Now that helicopter fenrir uses to drop me off has really inaccurate readings. They told me they'd drop me off at my mission point but when I touched down, there was no one. How awesome right?

Hey, maybe while walking through these destroyed stuff I'd find a damsel in distress.

"Over here!"

I know that voice…CHICKS WITH BOOBS!

Following the sound of the voice, I came to find my mission partner, holding a huge-ass gun over a shoulders.

Mhmm…chicks with boobs AND big guns, quite my type. But again, all chicks love me (I think).

"You must be the new recruit I met earlier," she smiled and placed her gun down, "My name's Sakuya Tachibana, we've met earlier."

I would so do my awesome mock bow, but I'm carrying an interchangeable gun-sword so all I can do is this, "Ash Shikigami at your service, miss. I'll try not to be a hindrance on this mission." At this stage, I don't think any of my awesome special lines are necessary yet. Of course, competing against Lindow for this woman is gonna be a tough job, since he got the whole "best buddy" advantage and all…

"Are you nervous?"

That one sentence shocked me out of staring down at her…you know.

"Me, nervous, yeah right!" I responded with my usual upbeat tone, "this'll be a breeze I bet."

"Wow, such confidence. I like that," she patted me on the back, "still, just try to calm down a little alright? Lindow told me you're a little too enthusiastic about this."

Oh come on! There's never such thing as TOO enthusiastic, there's only a lack of life, enthusiastic or just dead bored.

"Now, time to get down to briefing," Sakuya said with a pinch of seriousness, "In this mission, you'll be acting as the leader. As a ranged user, I'll be backing you up from the rear. This is basic strategy for teaming up with a gunner-class God Arc user, don't forget it."

"Last but not least, gunner's have recovery bullets to heal you, so don't go too far off me alright? Stay in range of your backup."

I could make quite a few puns from those sentences there, but WHOA, she can heal? I say that's gonna come in useful since I'm the rush-in-and-try-not-to-die ones.

"Alright, Lady Second-in-command boss," I did a salute with my left hand, "now, shall we?"

We leapt of our starting point. As we descended, I weighed the new weapon in my hands. A short-sword, the knife. Rather light weight and can seemingly execute combos with just one hand swinging it, was what that engineer girl told me, complete with my assault rifle, I think my set up is good.

Hey now…

"Is that thing a cocoon maiden," I asked as I gazed across the wailing plains, spotting a short, grey looking….thing with a distorted face.

Hey, it's a stationary enemy, looks like its gonna be a breeze!

"Are you ready?" Sakuya asked in a hushed tone.

"AND THE STAR INITIATES!" I yelled as I dashed towards the aragami. The thing noticed me, but at quite a bad time as I swung my knife (its pretty long for one) relentlessly at it, delivering a quick four hit combo and dodging out of harms way to avoid Sakuya's bullets.

"Now Lindow said I could do this thing…"

Now to the back of the cocoon maiden, I unleashed another hail of slashes as Skuya continued to fire its front. Then, right before the sixth hit, I did something Lindow told me I could try.

"_Try Devouring it halfway through a combo, it won't grant you increased aptitude as long as a normal devour, but its good if you need to dodge quickly after that."_

"Now time for a quick bite!" I yelled as I released my God arc. The black mouth appeared and chewed part of its head.

Now…it's time to shout…my awesome power up phrase.

"I'm ON FIRE BABY!"

My scream of epic-ness stunned Sakuya momentarily and she stopped firing for a sec, but that's okay though. Using my awesome super powers of heightened reflexes and abilities, I launched my newly earned spiked **Javalin **ability I earned and a few more of my flaming juices into the maidens face.

Ok eeww, that was a terrible pun slash reference.

Suddenly, that cocoon maiden started wriggling, its body extending slightly upwards.

"What is this a BEAN SPROUT!"

"Ash, move outta the way! It shoots spiked needles at you!"

Hey she called me by my name- WHOA! The thing shot spikes out of its "stems"! And, oh my gosh, it went right through my PANTS you arse hole.

Nearly pierced my *insert obvious body part here*, damn it! Alright SONUVBIETCH, ITS TIME TO TAKE YOU DOWN, ASH STY-

"Hey uh…are you gonna extract its core quickly or not?"

Um what…?

IT DIED! DAYUM!

I let my God Arc slowly chew on that things dead corpse as I talked to Sakuya, "Hey, are you sure that I'm the only new-type around here? I mean…I can't be the only one around here right? Someone must have got in early, just maybe not as awesome as me."

"Actually," she fired a red lasor across the field, hitting our second cocoon maiden target, "there was one other rookie that came in. He was a new type too. In fact, I was training him way before you came. He was pretty on schedule too."

Man once I find that other new type I'll friggin kill him-

"STOP SPACING OUT, MOVE AWAY!"

That was my cue to do two things.

I jumped in the air, TWICE! The double jump gave me a heightened view of what to come at me which, apparently, was a laser shot by the second cocoon maiden. Raising my shield in time I smoothened the impact of the laser.

Alright, things up for a major beat down now. Interrupting me once, shame on you. Interrupt me twice, you're gonna get screwed up the ass by my…

"SIX HIT COMBO, YA FREAK OF NATURE!"

I ran, headfirst into the cocoon maiden. Doing a little sidestep to make sure Sakuya's rapid freeze shots were on target, I swung my knife horizontally and caused a huge gash across its stomach. After a second downward swing, it started to extend.

"Same tricks don't work twice, loser!"

I jumped, only once since steroid mode was gone, and slashed it twice against the face.

"NOW TIME FOR MY GRANDE FINISHER!"

Horrible use and spelling of foreign language aside, I positioned my sword downwards and sunk my blade right through its head as gravity dragged me down.

Oh yuck…now my swords stuck in an aragami BRAIN…

"Hey, that was a nice way to kill of the aragami," Sakuya complimented me, "not even Lindow would have pulled of a stunt like that."

"Not bad at all, little rookie."

Not bad? She just…oh gosh, I'm not even sure to feel happy or pissed. I mean, a chick with D-size boobs and looks compliments me, I'm pretty darn grateful for that, but NOT BAD?

DUDES, THAT WAS TOTALLY RAD! Bet none of ya have the balls to do that huh? Well I'm sure captain prick doesn't anyway, I'm way more daring than that blonde prick.

And OH MY GOSH, SHE WINKED AT ME AGAIN!

STRIKE TWO, EAT THAT LINDOW!

"Come on, let's head back. I'm sure Soma should be back from that mission by now."

It took awhile, but we're now back down to the entrance of the Far East Branch. After talking to Sakuya for awhile, I finally found out some interesting facts for today's agenda.

Which was kinda more boring stuff, LOOLLLZZ

But Sakuya was talking a lot the whole time while not facing me, so I took that time to measure her boob size. Judging from my angle, I can say it's a good length of f-

"Hey Licaa," Sakuya greeted a dark silver haired engineer girl who was working on fixing a God arc, "have you seen Soma?"

Hey…up close she's…pretty darn cute, with those grease lines it still doesn't matter. She doesn't have the boobs for it though…maybe an 8 or seven and a half. Sakuya talked awhile with her as we handed our God Arcs over for some minor repairs.

"He went out on a mission with some new rookie not too long ago. He shouldn't be long, you know Soma…"

He went with that NEW DUDE THAT'S NOT ME? Man, as much as I don't want to but, I really wanna meet this new guy. We could even be bros! I mean, how bad could it get? Me and him fighting over some foreigner girl while we try not to friendly fire?

Hmm…I might really be cursing us all. Better try to shut up a little NAHHHH, no way in heck man.

Oh yes, one more thing.

"Hey Sakuya?" I used my deepest, manliest tone and called out to her before she walked away, "How about tomorrow? You and me? I'll treat to this awesome restaurant…"

"I'm sorry but Lindow said he got this new beer brand he wanted to try," she smiled and apologised, "he saved some for me too. Maybe another day, thanks though!"

Ash: 1 Lindow: 3

Shit you, Lindow. YOU'RE RUNING MY FUTURE HAREM!

Dropping down to the couch, I pulled out my PSP and reached for the on switch, when I noticed Hibari was ALONE! Holy cow! Hibari was by herself! No one registering missions, no TOM, no one but the orange haired receptionist by herself.

Hmm…

No, I should wait till Tatsumi gets back, then I'll have a real chance to show him how its done. If that's the case, then my lovely PSP gets some attention.

"Alright, then…game start…"

Yes I brought my psp with me into battle, and it DIDN'T BREAK!

"Welcome back…" I heard Hibari's cheerful sounding voice broke off. Curious, I looked up from my game.

And nearly freaked.

Walking now in front of me is this tall dude with a blue hoodie on heading to the counter. Behind him was this black haired dude wearing designer glasses. I freaked not at that…

But because the designer glasses dude had a dude slumped over his left shoulder, covered in blood.

DEAD!

"WHOA! Wha…who…holy shi-"

The designer glasses dude turned to me, only for a moment before he replied, "Uh…don't worry. He didn't feel anything…"

I tried hard not to fall off the couch, even when the dude DID go off to the lift. Probably to cremate the damn body or something. Hibari didn't even flinch, like these kinds of things have occurred more often than not. This got me thinking…

How many dead Gods Eaters have there been already?

The dude with the hoodie started to talk to Hibari and she started tapping away at her laptop.

Wait…he wasn't trying to get his hands on her was he?

WAIT A MINUTE!

The hoodie dude seemed to widen his eyes as Hibari said more stuff and typed onto her laptop. I thought I saw one of his fists almost clenching up.

Then the next part was sudden.

"Rookie! Let's go!"

I shot up immediately, the word rookie catching my attention. Was he calling for me?

"Yes sir?" I got to his side immediately, "did you call me?"

"…" he looked at me for a moment, before continuing, "fine, guess you'll have to do for now. Hibari, get Eric to rendezvous."

"Rookie, get ready to clear up two ogretails. Prepare for battle."

Battle? I LOVE THAT WORD!

But now…I better hope that I don't die…that dead body still irks me.

**Sunken Grid**

"Soma."

"I'm sorry, sir, what was that?"

"My name," he replied curtly, "but that's all. In this, its either devour them, or get devoured."

Geez, so I guess this is one of the serious dudes, but he has the rights though. I mean, who wouldn't when you just see someone die?

"Soma!"

I snapped around to face a third part: some dude with wild red hair and an open shirt, with sunglasses.

Man what was this a fashion statement?

"So you must be the new recruit I've been hearing so much about," he flipped his hair (oh gosh…gay gay gay…), "I'm Eric, Eric De Vogelweid."

"I suggest you learn from me on how to battle for the sake of humankind…"

LALALALALA, BORING! Let something interesting happen OTHER than this guys already ple-

"ERIC ABOVE YOU!"

STOP CUTTING MY THOUGHTS!

Suddenly, an ogretail leaps OVER ME (Oh my gosh…that thing has…oh gross….), and GLOMPS Eric. As in, you should have seen it. Eric's whole body went INTO the mouth of the white aragami. You could hear his screams and getting chomped on sounds.

On a second thought, you don't want to see it.

"ROOKIE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING, SLASH IT!"

Now out of my mini horror mind flick, I rolled out of harms way. Soma was DAMN fast even with that heavy sword of his, he did a dash forward and friggin SLAMMED his buster sword down on the things head. With that amount of force, I saw the thing's head crack a little.

For some reason, I took that chance to charge up and devour that thing. But aragami having fast reactions and all, it twirled and knocked me back.

"Tch…can't even fight back…" I heard Soma mutter as he gracefully swatted away the aragami's tail, "the other one was so much for useful…"

Damn it, I'll show you fight!

Pulling the crank, I brought out my assault rifle. Shooting two spark bullets at it, I allowed Soma for one more hit and ran straight up to it.

And shoved the gun into its mouth.

"Suck on it, mofo…"

BAM!

…

Shoot…my sides are…bleeding…?

I found myself laying on the floor, the side of my shirt bloody and ripped.

"Watch your surroundings, rookie. DO NOT die!" He yelled as he rammed his blade at the second ogretail.

Dude…

Shut up, I can fight too. Don't freaking underestimate me!

I swapped back to my sword and, crying out "MOFOZ," unleashed my God Arc's predatory state as it dug into the ogretail.

YESH! IT DIED, AND NOW I CAN ENTER STEROIDS MODE AND-

*dub dub*

Argh…! My chest it…hurts…is it because of the wound?

…

Shit…

Alright…the pains a little better now.

"Rookie? What are you spacing out for? Finish it off!"

No…I can't let this little pain get me. That kind of thing ain't heroic at all!

"Alright, ya damn Ogretail, TASTE MY STEROID POWAAAHHH!"

* * *

><p>And done.<p>

Remember, give this and Gods Eater Eyes of Ignisis a read, a whole lot of fun is coming your way!

BTW: His is from his protagonist POV, mine is from Ash's POV. Check out both to understand the full story!


	6. Chapter 6: Meet the PROTAGONIST?

BWWWARGH!

Me: Man coordination is hard.

Ragner: No duh

Me: Well least its fun (despite my f*ed up schedule.)

Either ways…enjoy our first official joint chapter.

Chapter 6: Meet the…PROTAGONIST!

We never found the body.

Ok lol WUT am I saying man? I shouldn't be talking about the fact that Eric got eaten up and even though me and Soma trashed the heck outta those ogretails, we kinda of never found the body.

…

Hmm, ignore that part, heh heh.

Either ways, Soma, as emo as he is, was pretty darn bad ass. That buster sword of his is so strong, it cracks heads (literally). I did try and chat with him on the way back, bit he gave me that Cloud-like attitude. Hell he even said "not interested" in THAT kind of tone.

I'm seriously starting to think only me and Kota have real lives here. And maybe Lindow too since he gots the booze and women.

SO um…

Looking at Soma now, looks like he still doesn't really wanna talk about anything.

"Hey uh…"

"…"

Oh geez fine, then I'll ignore him too, asshole.

We got back to the den without much talk and I (yeah, just me) handed my God Arc back to Licca for some minor repairs here and there.

"Hey…" she sounded a little uncertain, "wasn't there three of you…?"

…

Shit.

"Um…that Eric dude um…how'd I put this…" I rubbed the back of my head, "he sort of…"

"He got eaten by an ogretail, and leave at that," Soma brushed us off as he headed back inside the den. MAN, seriously, what's with the stick up his butt? I could see Licca was really upset about this. I mean, I kinda understand. Two dead people within a day is just crazy, and they looked like long time Gods Eater too. Must suck bad to lose them.

"Hey come on Licca," I flashed my brightest smile, "I'm sure things can't get any worse than this. Hey, how about this, I'll treat you to cafeteria food later, sounds good?"

"Huh?" she seemed to snap out of a trance or something, "No, its alright. I already ate…"

Man, what's with every girl in this damn den rejecting me outright? It's crazy I tell you. My charms must be wearing off. Maybe I should ask Lindow how he does it. Cologne? Muscles? A really huge pe-

"Whatever!" I yelled despite myself, "some of these things don't even have anything to do with me anyway!"

But I wonder though, my chest was kinda hurting, even if it was just a little, halfway through the fight. Is this what they call heart breaking?

Couldn't be, my muscular chest doesn't do pain.

I went up to Hibari to report the mission as completed, but she called me over instead before I could even do anything.

Does that mean she accepted my dinner request?

Smoothing whatever hair I could smooth not tied by my bandana, I strode up to her, "Hey, I've done the mission already. Maybe I can use that reward money to treat to some food-"

"Actually," she cut me off abruptly and continued typing away, "a new mission request has just come in for you."

Insert epic moan and groan here.

WHY DOES THIS PLACE ALWAYS DO THIS TO ME? WHY IN THE WORLD!

Regaining back my normal un-screwed-up face, I inquired further, "So, who's it with this time? Do I lead the charge again?"

"It's still vague but according to Tsubaki, you'll be teaming up with Kota and Ragner."

Which means I'm gonna lead the team, whoever this Ragner guy is. Now time to check the time on my yes-it-survived-battle-again PSP.

Flip switch on…

BAH, whatever. I'm tired. A good old nap will do big boss's like me some rest.

Well if that's all you wanna hear from me. Good night, chumps. See you in the next chapter!

...

...

I think I'm dreaming. I mean, LOOK AT THE F*ING SKY MAN.

ITS RAINING PIZZA!

Gosh, I can't imagine how long I've gone without pizza. Up ahead in my dream-pizza land, I see this…person (don't know if it's a guy or girl). He's walking towards me now, very slowly.

NO, NO, DO NOT. I SAY, DO NOT TOUCH MY PIZZA!

*glomps*

Damn….my pizza.

"Hey…"

Wherever that voice came from, I'm not answering you till I get my pizza back. Suddenly, I felt the ground shake hard. Slowly but surely, the pizzas went out one by one.

Oh…my…gosh.

"OH MY GOD OH MY GOD. WHERE's MY PIZZA!"

*CRASH*

I shot up, sadly, ending my dream and crashing headfirst into someone. How do I know it's a someone and not a something? The guy responded, "Ow, damn it! There's no pizza!"

I blinked for awhile, rubbed my eyes, and friggin blinked again. Oh look, its Kota and designer glasses dude…DESIGNER GLASSES DUDE? Oh man, the guy who brought back the dead body is coming with me?

Hmm…this could get interesting (pray I don't die….)

SO uh…

"Who's this guy again?" I turned to Kota as I pointed my finger at him. Designer glasses pushed my hand out of his face, "It's Ragner, and stop pointing." OH OH! So designer glasses was the other new type that came in before me. So I see…Vader-voice lied to me again.

But of course, no two way introduction is complete without mine, definitely.

"Well whatever you are, Ragna the not Bloodedge, Ash Shikigami at your not so every disposal," I forced a grin. Yes, I said forced cause I thought I'd be teaming up with some hot chick me and Kota could dig and compete and I WIN over. I don't want no sausage party.

"What Ragna the not Bloodedge? Have you been smoking something?" the guy asked, surprisingly offended by my statement.

"If you count eating monsters with a sword with a black mouth, while we get uber charged and get steroidreflexes smoking? Then yeah I've been smoking a shit load bro."

I gave a small mock salute to confirm his words. I mean, seriously, its like that really! Whenever I devour something, I get all fired up and energy boosted. This dude obviously doesn't know the meaning of fun, like (as I mentioned) a lot of people in the den, period.

"Do you have pot on you, or maybe a little weed?"

Pot? Weed? Man, such big words, Ash doesn't know such big words. I told him that outright of course. He looked like he wanted to pry my neck of or something, "Drugs."

Oh gosh, this guy ….seriously.

"Drugs, pots, WEED? Dude I'm a perfectly, normal, sane to the core guy, why would I need any of those?"

"It would definitely explain the behaviour."

Asshole, I sense sarcasm in there. I got my tired ass of the couch and we made our way down to the god arcs chamber.

"Hey, hope we survive this one," Kota suddenly spouted.

"That's a given, what's gotten into you?" Ragner asked him. Kota got a little nervous, moving around in that little area of his and all, "Well, I dunno what my mom and sister would do if something happened to me, so I gotta watch out."

"An image of a chick with huge boobs?" I suddenly blurted out, simultaneously in response to designer glasses' question.

"Dude, are boobs all you think about?"

NOW I wanted to face palm and slap myself in the face. This guy, this new type who was supposed to be awesome like me, doesn't know how to appreciate boobs? What the hell, seriously! But of course, couldn't let him know that. Coughing lightly, I began my awesome elaboration.

"Legs, boobs, hips, face. Come on! You're a guy aren't you?"

"They're not the main point of attraction for me, more like icing on the cake."

Aw man, lifeless as hell. I did shut up though, seeing as Kota was waving desperately at us and trying to get our attention back to him.

"Hey, you guys know Sakuya don't you?" Kota's one sentence immediately caught my mind again. Do I know her? DO I KNOW HER! DUDE!

"My woman man, I already told you before," I flashed him my victory thumbs up and grin.

"What about her?" Oh gosh…captain killjoy again.

"Is either one of you close? She's really pretty don't you think? Good looking, friendly, strong... Like an Amazon warrior! How hot is that?"

He went on and on about things I weren't interested in. I'm serious, guys like brota? They don't know when to stop even though she's publicly declared…

"As I said, she's my woma..."

"Get to the point…" captain killjoy muttered, nearly rolling his eyes. I could see he was bored. NYEH, JEALOUS I GOT THE WOMAN YO!

Kota yelled, punching the air. "I'm getting all pumped up here! Let's see who can take out the most enemies in this mission!" Oh ho! A challenge contest huh? This will be fun. But…judging from these two's capabilities (I think)…

"That's it? I think we already know who the winner's gonna be."

Of course, captain killjoy had to come in again, "Dude, there's like four aragami. Nice contest there." He even pulled out his earpieces and plugged it into his ears. HE FRRIGGIN CUT ME OFF! Suddenly, I'm not wanting this guy to swear the bro oath with me. Still, I'll give him more chances.

"Oh come on! Don't be a stiff! If you don't watch it, I'll just take them all." I said, pouting just ever so slightly.

"Please, it'll make my job a lot easier."

"Well if you wanna be that way then whatever. Come on, men!" I raised my hand for them to follow me as I grabbed my repaired god arc with my right. As we headed out, I swore I saw Ragner give that Licaa chick a wave. And did she just GIGGLE?

Calm yourself Ash…calm yourself. Remember, uncle said to always take things slow.

**Area: Tranquil Temple**

Whoa, lots of sights to see now aren't there? Hell, like any of these places do nowadays. Alright, according to the mission, its supposed to be…

"Alright, here's the deal," Ragner began, "our mission is to take out a "Kongou and 3 Ogretails." The Kongou isn't anywhere in sight so let's wipe the Ogretails first before..."

HOLD IT! *Insert Phoenix Wright here*

"Wait who made you boss around here?" I interrupted, staring in my direction. Ragner blinked, as if my question was just so damn obvious he couldn't RESIST ANSWERING BACK,"Well seeing as Lindow, Sakuya and Soma aren't here, I thought I'd do the briefing."

"Well gee, someone loves attention…"

The dude was pissed for no apparent reason again (LOLZ), "Why don't you do the briefing then?"

"A bit late, captain," I sneered at him. He snorted of a whatever and shot me the same look back. Pelacing his earpieces with headsets.

Our cue to start.

"LET'S GO, GENTLEMEN!" I yelled dramatically as I leaped off, not bothering to listen to anything else he wanted to tell me. Hey, it was a contest after all.

Hmm…

My awesome instincts tell me left has not much of a catch, I'll head to the usual right then. I did hear a pretty damn loud roar coming across that direction. Of course, in the less than five minutes I ran into my first prey: a weak ogretail.

"Hah, this is gonna be a snap!" I jumped straight into the battle and slashed the ogretail. It let out a small roar, but remained helpless at my (freaking) awesome assault of combo slashes.

NOW TIME TO EAT SHIT, I mentally yelled-since-I-couldn't-over-battle-epicness and devoured the ogretail.

"I'm ON FIRE BABY!" Now enter awesome STEROIDS…and hack and slash. Now I jump…

"COUP DE GRACE, MOFOZ!" I landed right down on the aragami's head, one hit ko-ing it. Now time to let it extract some core. Man, if only those two (especially that friggin DESIGNER GLASS) dudes could see me, I bet I'm way ahead of them in like every single way…

*ROAAAAR*

Oh what the heck was…OH WHOA!

Moving back, a large, rounded figure landed in front of me. I studied it quickly. Two eyes, freaking red, and a tail…

Oh my gosh…

"HOLY CRAP, GORILLA!"

I don't ever know how the heck Ragner heard me, but I heard his voice through his mic I think, "Drop a flare!" Good thing I got some in MA PANTZ, I knew they would come in useful. Lighting a flare and setting it off, I prayed hard that this thing didn't eat me before they came.

Damn, this thing has fast swings. I dodged to my left as it swung its left arm. Suddenly, heaving backwards, the Kongou shot a freaking AIR BLAST at me. Good thing my handy shield was easy to bring up, or I'd be bleeding shits.

Come on, guys…this ain't funny (I don't care if I lose the contest now!)

"ASH!"

Ragner! Thank God (as much as I hate to…) you and Kota came in time! The Kongou noticed us and…if it could smirk it did. It raised its claws again and swung, not at me…

"WATCH OUT!" Kota's warning for Ragner came too late as the dude was smacked in the face, the impact so hard it blew him into a nearby wall, and that was even WITH his shield drawn. I guess Gorillas hate designer glasses?

The thing, now with Ragner out, spun its tail at Kota, effectively knocking him to the ground. Just when all else failed…

"RESTRICTION RELEASED. GOD ARC UNLEASHED!"

Ragner didn't. Somehow, he entered steroids mode and leapt over the kongou, cutting of a chunk of it near its head. Using that free chance, I unleashed my god arc and devoured part of its stomach.

Yes, SO MUCH POWER FLOWING THROUGH MEH

"I'm ON FIRE BA-"

*BAM*

The next thing I know, an ice mortar comes flying my way, effectively hitting me in the face and to the ground. I turned and saw Ragner with the gun bloody hell AIMED AT ME!

"OW WHAT WAS THAT FOR!"

"I thought you were on fire!"

"Bitch!"

Before either of us could curse or swear more, the Kongou let out a large roar. Now…I'm obviously pissed. Shoot me in the face, now this thing SCREAMS AT US!

Why don't…this thing just…

"SHUT UP!" Ragner and I both yelled and stabbed the Kongo in the chest. Deciding it was time for some manly epic action, Ragner rolled backwards. Pulling the trigger, he let out some fancy bullet which SPUN and hit the kongou face-on.

I pulled out my short sword and, once again thanks to steroid mode, DOUBLE JUMPED INTO THE AIR.

Time for some stunts, bitch.

Stabbing down into the shoulder of the kongou, I used the momentum to flip myself across to the other side, grabbing its tail.

"Haha…loser."

As I attempted to cut the tail, I noticed something…WAS THE KONGOU FALLING?

DAMN YOU, RAGNER!

With some quick thinking, I jumped into the air, courtesy to steroids mode, and angled my body for a dive, stabbing the Kongou in the process. But shit…if it weren't thanks to Kota and his fancy ass looking bullets which made the Kngou run, me and Ragner be goners.

Wait, the Kngou RAN AWAY! PUSSY!

Ragner beckoned us with a light "come on" and we quickly tracked down the Kongou (despite Kota running out of stamina once there…). I had an idea though, and it involved snare traps and quick dodges.

But of course, Ragner 'saved the day', "Alright here's the plan. I'm going to set up a snare trap at the corner, Ash and I rush in and devour the Kongou when it's not looking and we run back and let it run into the snare trap."

"Wow, the dude DOES know his plan and routes," I say. No really, I'm dead serious here. As much as me and this guy already nearly hate each other on first sight. I have to say though, he and I were almost thinking the exact same thing.

"I can hear you know…"

We set our plan into motion after that. Ragner placed the trap behind the Kongou, but not to near though. Kota stayed behind to wait for his signal. Then, while that dumb monkey was still busy eating stuff of the floor. Ragner and I let our God Arc's go all mouthy.

Of course, chewing of part of its back does gain you attention.

"I'M ON FIRE BABY!"

"RESTRICTION RELEASED! GOD ARC UNLEASHED!"

The two of us went into steroids mode as the Kongou took notice of us. That was part one. Part two: we ran like hell back to where Kota was. Splitting only ever so slightly, we managed to land the Kongou in the trap.

That was our signal. Now, with three guns pointing at the Kongou, we emptied all our oracle points onto the giant Gorilla. It gave out one final roar and, in all its effort, fell to the ground…

AND FREAKING DIED!

WE OWNED THAT KONGOU, BISH! Now to for some material and core extraction and to head back. Even though he didn't show it, I bet that Ragner dude was pretty pleased at this.

Who knows? One day we might become best buds…

* * *

><p>"Oh guys, we're due in Paylor's lab for a lecture on Arcology," Ragner later told us as we were walking back home.<p>

That seemingly crushed half my hopes on us being bros. I don't mind the lecture but…doesn't he know how tired I am!

YOU MUST UNDERTSAND AWESOME PEOPLE, RAGNER!

"A lecture? Shit no! You woke me up from my sleep, shot me in the ass and now a freaking LECTURE? I'm so out of this!" I quickly blurted out in an attempt to escape. Before either dude could stop me, I ran ahead of both of them, but not before giving them my last and final warning.

"Oh yeah, tell the first woman you see I said hi!"

* * *

><p>And WRAP!<p>

So how was it? Ragner being super cool and Ash being a total cunt to him?

R & R our first joint chapter!


	7. Chapter 7: SOCIAL LINK UP?

I'm BACK!

Ash: Me too! Is that designer glasses dude breaking too?

Me: Yeah, NOW ON WITH IT!

Chapter 7: Social Link Up!

*YAAAAAAWWWWWWWNNNN*

Hmm…I must have fallen asleep then. That one kongou wasn't too tough, but maybe its because teamwork is awesome. That, and my skills must be superior. I mean, you don't see a crazy guy doing stunts every now and then do you?

I must've fell asleep hugging something…and why does this show game over?

…

Oh damn, MA PSP!

I got up into my yoga position, hoping it would help me recall events before I fell asleep. Lemme think. I skipped Paylor's lecture, that was a definite yes. I walked up to my room and opened my terminal to check for some stuff, took out my PSP to play, and fell asleep after that.

Hmm, check the terminal…?

Oh yeah, there was an email from Tsubaki yesterday that I didn't care to read. Getting my tired butt of the couch, I booted up the terminal.

"Hmm, let's see…welcome mail…mail from Kanon, hat man and TOM," I scrolled through the list, funny how I just didn't check under latest received, "Now here it is! Let's see…"

"_To all Gods Eaters, the directors have acknowledged that you have worked very hard in your attempts to fight the aragami. As of tomorrow, we are giving you a break, just for the day itself. We hope you take this time to rest and relax yourselves._

_-Tsubaki Amamiya_

Hey, we get a break! SWEET! Although somehow I get the feeling that there's more to the message that isn't told inside here…

Man, I got myself so ready for this! First, I'll probably head out to eat…but that's just the canteen, but whatever! Then maybe I'll…I'll…

Now that I carefully ponder over this difficult subject of thought…

…

I CAN'T DO ANYTHING! I'LL BE BORED TO DEATH! And I noticed the amount of pauses I have in each sentence, but what the heck.

I'm not usually one to not like breaks, I love them to death. I took the chance to play whenever I had one in school, I'd go around to the fields to play and stuff. I'm not the guy who does nothing all day you know? Still, it would be nice…to kick the ball around with friends someday…

Ah, what am I doing? I shouldn't be here wasting the hours away! I should be enjoying my break! From the looks of my newfound career, it isn't common to get breaks like these around.

Oh, and speaking of break, I wonder how long I slept. I can sleep for eighteen hours straight and no one can wake me up, I swear! I ever did it once. Grabbing the clock, I rubbed my right eye as I started at the hands of it, "Let's see this thingy…that long one is on..."

Holy cow.

HOLY COW!

It's already this late? Aw snap, I slept through almost the whole morning, and now there's only an hour left of non-intense sunlight.

Oh well, I guess the den doesn't have much outdoor facilities so I don't think I can find a soccer field around, and on a completely unrelated note, was that a coffee machine in my room! How come I never noticed that thing there before?

Oh well, couldn't hurt to take one, I thought as I reached over to a cup and started to fill it up.

**A FEW MOMENTS LATER…**

I really think something's not right with me this morning.

First of all, I feel somewhat depressed. I have no clue why but I am DAMN depressed, and I spilled coffee over my favourite shirt.

I WASTED COFFEE, I ARE SINFUL!

I managed to change into another one of my spares (I had three of that shirt) and got out after cleaning up the spillage I made on the floor. After throwing on my jacket, tying my bandana and banging my head against the wall to get myself out of the half-dead state I was in, I managed to drag my ass out of my room.

"But shit," I thought aloud as I hit the button on the elevator (I'm STILL suspicious of that thing), "Who am I going to hang out with and, as I thought, this place doesn't have much to do."

"Oh well. Might as well go grab some lunch while I'm at it. AND FIND SOME CHICKS!"

The only thing I'm hoping is for good rations. I overheard a few dudes talking about the new menus recently, and something about Doc Paylor screwing with it. He better not, a hungry Ash is a VERY VERY PISSED ASH!"

*ding*

Yay, lift!

I found the button which said 'lobby' and hit it. Good thing this elevator wasn't that small, I used to have claustrophobia. Well, that was before my accident anyway. I'm not so sure about now, but seeing as how the corridor leading to my room is deathly small and that I haven't freaked, I'd dare say minor brain damage does help cure stuff.

FIST PUMP (:D)

Eh? The lift stopped again? And there's no one here either? Oh well, better close it…

"WAIT A MOMENT!" a voice suddenly shrieked, causing me to flinch slightly. Strange, there wasn't anyone on this floor from my point of view…

"I'm sorry!" a figure finally came into view from the side (hah…was that even possible…). I instantly recognised the orange tied hair and the long office dress.

"Good afternoon to you too, Hibari," I greeted her as the doors closed shut in front of us, "and uh…aren't you supposed to be at the counter…oh wait right, no missions today huh?"

"Yeah!" she seemed pretty happy about it, "The defence unit was deployed just now to take care of anything that could come our way, but they have scheduled break times so I won't really be needed today." She talked a lot about not having Tatsumi (I'm not in the mood for nicknames…) bother her every ten seconds or something like that.

"And you know what the best part was…" she stopped short when she suddenly looked at me, "hey, you don't look so good. Something up, Shikigami?"

Yeah, I got nothing to do on probably one of my only break days I'll ever damn get, plus I'm not in the mood to do anything really fun. I was tempted to go out and get some chills but…I don't even know if they have a rooftop for me to go and get fresh air from.

Hmm, something's on my head.

"Are you having a flu, cause your head feels pretty normal to me."

…

STRIIIKEEE! I GOT THE WOMAN TO MAKE A MOVE FIRST! Not always the best kind of route, but hey, its an initiator!

Depression points DOWN!

Not wanting to release my hype just yet, I placed my hand on hers to remove it, "No, I'm fine, really. I just woke up really late, maybe that's what."

"Oh, it looks like it's lunchtime, maybe we can go grab some-"

*ding*

…

AAAARGGHHHHHH! ..STUPID REAL LIFFFEEE!

"Oh hey, that was fast," she suddenly whipped around as the lift opened, "did Licca upgrade the lifts or something? Oh well, guess I'll thank her."

Damn it, she's walking off, I MUST RENGAGE THE CONVERSATION!

"Hey, Hibari I…"

Hey, why am I falling down?

Pause and hit slow-mo, I saw my one of my feet step on the laces of my other shoe.

Crap, must…not…FALL!

Stretching out one hand towards the side, I grabbed the long railing inside the lift for one handed support and used my other hand to grab whatever was in front of me to even up the balance. Now with the epic slow-mo turned off, I managed to not fall flat on my face.

Phew…that was a close call. Still, I wonder, does the lift have anything this soft…?

Then I looked up and saw Hibari, who seemed too shocked for any plausible reaction. Then I looked down at my hand, and what it gripped on, and then I looked up again.

Oh…

* * *

><p>SHIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTT!<p>

"SHIKIGAMI!"

Well, well, wanna guess a fun fact I found out today? It's pretty obvious actually: never grab a girl's ass, on purpose or in an accident. Even when falling down, fall FLAT an accidentally see her…

Well, that's bad too, really bad. So, I left off where again?

Oh right…

"I SAID I WAS SORRY DAMN YOU!" I bolted of at mach 2 (I'm a surprisingly fast runner) to the largest place with the biggest running space: The cafeteria. And up ahead, I can see a group of people.

It's designer glasses!

"OUTTA THE WAY!"

"WHAT THE HELL!" Ragner jumped back as I narrowly ran past him. Oh wait, major moment light bulb!

"Hey you got a good place to hide?" I placed my hands on his shoulders and looked around, "don't ask."

"God arc storage area warehouse 42. What-"

"Thanks!" I was gonna bolt off again, but I forgot one thing, I HAVE NO DAMN CLUE WHERE IT IS!

"SHIKIGAMI!"

"Ah crap!" I quickly hid myself behind a wall to make sure the source of the voice didn't find me. Ragner seemed to access the situation pretty quick though, "Go to the God Arc storage area, take the stairs down 2 floors. There will be a bunch of warehouses. 42 is always unlocked."

It's a yes moment!

"Thanks! And uh…tell the next woman you see-"

"SHIKIGAMI!

"ARGH SCREW THIS!"

I didn't turn to see if Hibari had lost me or not, I just ran my sorry ass down a pair of stairs I found that led to the storage area. I did trip once or twice, by pain wasn't important right now, my ass getting served on a silver platter was what worried me. I did hear Ragner telling her to go off in the wrong direction, but whether she will EVENTUALLY find me is another thing.

"Let's see…thirty nine….forty one…hah!"

Throwing the door open, I was about to step in when I heard a strong buy feminine voice behind me.

"Is that you rookie?"

Oh thank God…

"Sakuya?" I called out uncertainly, turning to see her holding a plastic bag in her hand, "oh hey uh…" I looked back to see the storage room open, "ah uh…it's not what it seems…"

"I heard Hibari screaming your name upstairs. What happened between you two, a fight?"

"Can I NOT talk about that? Please, lady-boss?"

She laughed at the sound of that, must've sounded like Lindow for a second there. Grinning, she gave me one of those 'big-sis' grins and patted me on the back, "Well, I've taken my lunch for awhile now! Come on, let's go and-"

*growl*

"What was that?"

Scratching the back of my head, I explained to her my current situation all the way till this very moment, though I left out the Hibari part.

"If that's the case," she palmed a fist, "I can give you some of this." Reaching one hand into the bag, she pulled two snack bars, one chocolate and one granola.

"I'd figured I might need it, but you haven't eaten and I might get fat if I eat too much chocolate," she shoved it into my hands. I blinked at her, why the hell, would she be concerned about weight? I mean, LOOK AT THAT BOOB SIZE! Not to mention those hips…

"Hey…" she poked me in the ribs, "quit staring like that. I'm a girl too so its only natural!"

"Sakuya? Hey Sakuya!"

Oh…my…freaking gosh.

*slam*

Not prepared to die yet, I slammed the door shut in the god arc storage area. I could vaguely hear those two talking about something, and I nearly froze up every time Hibari said "Shikigami". It's like, she was out for my blood or something.

Oh and…why are the lights left on inside here? If that's the case, might as well look around the storage room, seems pretty big.

Getting me nosy ears (urgh, that was BAD) of the wall, I stared at what seemed to be junk inside this warehouse. I wonder, is that Licca chick the only mechanic slash engineer around here? If so, must be pretty tough working alone. Hey, maybe one day I should try and score with that chick…

But she looks like she has the hots for Rag's…shoot.

"Hey now," I muttered unconsciously, picking up a large object, "what's this?"

Blowing of some of the dust and trying VERY hard not to gag (in fear of the orange haired receptionist), I managed to get its shape right.

It was some dusty old God Arc, and why am I holding it by the blade, whoa! I moved my hand up to the handle instead and felt its weight.

Heavy, I guess this is a buster, better use two hands to hold it before my right arm becomes.

*schrk*

"Argh!"

I felt something pierce into my arm, causing me to yelp and drop the god arc. My hand kept shivering from the piercing sensation.

What WAS that about!

"Hmm? Is someone in there?"

…

This is one of those times where I need that ogretail to eat me…

I heard more chattering outside, and then a sigh.

"Shikgami? What are you doing inside there? Get out."

"I DON'T WANNA DIE YOUNG! I'M STILL A VIRGIN!"

* * *

><p>I'm alive!<p>

Well, Sakuya made me come out, saying there were more chocolate bars.

I'm such a kid to fall for that.

Surprisingly, Hibari didn't wipe my ass of me. In fact, she kind of APOLOGISED. I mean, well yeah she overreacted at me groping her nice ass, but I should probably apologise.

But still, I must accept the ladies apology, ASH STYLE!

"Hey, don't need to apologise," I took her hands, eyes sparkling, "in fact, let me make it up to you. How about I treat you to a nice dinner?"

*SLAP*

OW! She slapped….hey was she turning RED! Epic fever?

"You know what, you're about as bad as Tatsumi. Forget I said anything," with a final huff, I heard her walk of, muttering a small "dork" on the way up.

Now I really had to ask something.

"Sakuya? Am I really that much of a brat?"

She let loose another one of those cute laughs before ruffling my head (awkward, since the height difference wasn't much), "You're…not normal per se, but other than that you're kind of like a dumb little brother."

"And by dumb, I mean that as a compliment, rookie. Don't dwell too much on it."

I swore I heard something along the lines of "THOU HAST ESTABLISHED A NEW BOND" and "SOCIAL LINK LEVEL UP" inside my head.

ANOTHER YES MOMENT!

All too happy and ignoring the pain on my face, I strode out of the god arc storage area. It took me all but a mere moment to notice the colour of the sky, it was probably already evening, and I still spent all day doing nothing.

Maybe it's best if I just headed back to my room to sleep, there shouldn't be anyone out before dinner time.

Actually, that's an understatement…and was that Kanon?

"Hey! Kanon!" I didn't resist the sudden urge to shout out to her, "over here!" The pink haired girl noticed my wave and walked down to greet me.

"Hey, Ash, fancy meeting you here," she seemed to be looking for someone, "where are Kota and Ragner? Aren't they your buddies?"

Haha…no, not yet at least. Kota's on the Bro level…so maybe. Maybe I can get that Ragner guy to swear the bro oath…

And whoa…she didn't call me by title or my last name, guess that counts as one up on the bar, yeah? Oh and I've been meaning to ask someone but…

"What's the dinner menu, if you've checked already I mean."

"It was uh…I don't know," she shrugged her shoulders, "I overheard something this morning, but I don't seem to remember…"

Ah…if that's the case, I'm guessing its probably giant corn or carrot. But then…what to do after that? I mean, even Kanon just told me she got nothing to do after this…

WAIT, THAT'S IT!

"Hey Kanon!" I suddenly had a brainwave again, "how's about we go somewhere after food? I mean, we're pretty dang free, so why not?"

Her eyes seemed to light up at that idea, "Sure, why not! In fact, I know just the place to go! I've already eaten, so I'll be waiting in the lobby!"

"You sure about this?" I asked, raising a brow, "I mean, I don't eat very fast…"

"Oh its fine, I can wait awhile."

"Alright then…"

*YOINK*

Without warning, I felt someone grab my arm was Kanon went of. I mean, whoever grabbed me didn't even let me do a fist pump.

Oh, hey, its Rag's!

"Dude I thought you were going with Sakuya?"

Oh yeah, I never told him my master plan, "I haven't told you have I? What part of harem ending do you not get? Have you never played a simulator before?"

"Yeah but her?" he looked like he was gonna kill himself, "Damn, you must enjoy getting shot more than I thought."

I've heard the rumours…but…, "How bad can it get? I bet Shun's just too hot headed, rushing in and all."

"Ohh you have NO IDEA my friend," he lowered his voice a little more, "have you seen the mission logs?"

Note to self: Rag's advice may come in handy, "Well, that's a story for another time. Now, let's pray and hope no giant corn today. I'm sick of that shit."

As we studied the menu, Ragner plastered a nervous look on his face, "So…how do you feel about carrots?"

"Better than corn," we nodded in agreement, "let's chow!"

"Wait…What the heck is giant carrot on the cob!"

…

Is that what I've been hearing about these days?

"Oh shit…"

"Yep, this is the time where I wish Doctor Paylor would stop screwing around with the menu," he nodded gravely as he looked at today's dinner again.

Grabbing our trays and heading down to a seat, we looked at each other before gobbling down the weird ass orange root. And I must say that this…

…is the worst shit I've ever eaten in my LIFE!

Rag's didn't take this too well, and he was off the table in a second. I resisted the urge to go and puke as horrible as that carrot shit was.

Damn you Doc Paylor, I'll kill you for killing my taste buds one day. ONE DAY VERY VERY SOON!

I looked up at the clock in the cafeteria. Wow, me and Rag's DO eat stuff pretty damn fast!

Rushing out to the lobby, I made sure that Kanon was still there. I mean, no good to make a girl wait and all you know?

"Hey Kanon, did you wait long…?"

Sure, I did find Kanon , but her eyes were closed. She wasn't snoring alright, but I could hear her take breaths as she slept. I sat down beside the sleeping girl, wondering if I should wake her up. I mean…I heard the defence squad were out on missions today, and knowing her, poor girl must've never heard the end from Shun for...obvious reasons…Maybe I should leave her alone for ten more minutes.

…

*looks at clock*

One minute more…

Actually, you know what? I wouldn't want her to go on an apologising spree.

"Hey," I spoke softly, "Kanon, I'm here, sorry I made ya wait."

"Mmm…" the girl groaned and rubbed her eyes stretching herself awake, "what time is it already…?"

"Uh…"

"Ah!" she seemed to be in a moment of shock the moment she noticed me here, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry I fell asleep!"

Um…alright, now who's supposed to be the one at fault now…?

"I guess I was a little too bushed out by my defence mission just now that I fell asleep," she stuck her tongue out in embarrassment, "I mean, if you call defending against a few wandering aragami defending, I guess it is."

I am very tempted to ask this…

"So uh…friendly fire rates down lately?'' I winced at myself a little as I asked the question. I wouldn't be too sure myself, but from Shun and Ragner's reactions, they tell me its pretty bad actually. I braced myself, expecting myself to maybe get yelled at or hit in the face or something.

Surprisingly, none of the two happened.

"Uh…haha…" she twiddled her thumbs nervously as I brought up the topic. I probably shouldn't add on anything, that'd just make it worse.

"I…probably shouldn't say anything now about that should I?"

Oh crap, I said something. SCREW THIS!

"Actually, it's alright, I get where you're coming from," she leaned back against the sofa and sighed, "I'm not that good of a gunner, but I wasn't cut out for the melee tests either. In the end the higher ups allowed me to try for support. It wasn't much better of a success, but they needed all the help they could get, so they took me in."

Well, I've read that if you craft bullets right they can home…so I guess that wouldn't need much of aiming…?

"Well, Tatsumi does his best as a team leader to support me, I'm pretty happy actually. Karel isn't one of the nicer guys, but I guess he's one of the more straightforward kinds that tells you straight without beating round the bush."

"Please," I raised my hands to stop her, "I hate that guy…"

"Oh come on, he's not that bad once you get used to him," she tried to act in defence, "I mean, sure he does say a lot of stuff about you, but overall he's…"

"Yeah, he's a prick."

We stared at each other post stupid comment as we burst out in laughter. I smiled at her, really. This girl shouldn't be so gloomy about what those shit-holes say about her. Look at her smiling face, it'd brighten up any dudes day man!

"Oh hey, Kanon. Weren't you talking to me about some place where you wanted to bring me just now? So, where is this place?"

She was going to reply straight away, considering the amount of enthusiasm on her face. I got my hopes up as well.

Until her face suddenly drooped, "Uh…I….kinda forgot?"

Insert mental face-palm here.

WHAT! WHAT!

"I must've forgot when I fell asleep…"

Uh…was that even humanely possible? Wait, I think it is. I mean, we've got an example right here (not the woman, the STAR of the show. No prizes for guessing who)

After managing to reassure her that it was fine and not to freak over it, we sat and talked about a whole load of random stuff. You'll be surprised. Under that nervous pink head is really a bundle of energy, I even found out she has a younger brother in the defence squad.

Maybe one day I could make him my apprentice.

Leaning back and staring at the ceiling, she suddenly said, "Hey, when do you think this will end? I mean, when the age of aragami is over?"

"I honestly can't answer that myself," I replied truthfully, getting increasingly tired as the hours had whiled by us, "but seems like all we can do now is fight."

"Why are we fighting in this forsaken world? Why strive to survive if we know we're gonna die soon?"

I sat turned my head and looked at head, "We decide these things ourselves, and we don't let petty losers and reasons get in our way, no matter what."

…

WOW.

THAT, was the most manly and epic thing I've ever said in my life so far! This better net me some points with her!

"Hehe…"

Huh?

"Hey…" leant back to get onto eye level with her, "its not funny. Am I always usually as crazy as people always say I am?"

"I'm sorry but…haha!" she continued laughing, "That just seemed so out of character for someone like you, not that I'm stereotyping but…"

She let loose a stream of laughter, which I sorta got annoyed at eventually. She did stop and we sat in silence as we looked through what little we could see through that roof.

And was it me, or were the stars really sexy tonight?

"I wish everyday could be like this…"

"You mean looking up and doing nothing?"

"No," she replied, "I mean like just sitting around and chatting, it makes us feel as if the world isn't going to end yet."

"In my dreams, I'm surrounded by hot babes…I guess that would be in a dream where the world wasn't going to end anyway."

"Did you say something?"

"Nah…just talking to myself…"

Woops, can't let THAT slip yet.

**THOU HAST ESTABLISHED A NEW BOND!**

Dude…why am I thinking these stuff again? I must've been playing too many simulators…

Man, I'm sleepy. I let out a yawn to prove my point as well.

"Ah…looks like it's getting late," Kanon pointed out the obvious.

"Mmph…"

"Maybe we should be getting back…Ash?"

…

Unknown to myself, I had seemingly fallen asleep. I'm not sure why I was so worn out (*cough* Hibari *cough*), but it seemed that everything just hit me at one shot, and I was knocked out before I knew it.

Some way to spend my break in the end huh?

But I guess…

"Good night…"

Maybe it's not that bad after all…

Right that moment before I drifted off to my own dream world and fantasies, I felt something soft and warm on my forehead.

"Ash…"

* * *

><p>*holds script up*<p>

NOW! I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE ALL THINKING, WHAT THE FK IS GOING ON, AM I RIGHT!

Well guess what? TOO BAD! I have my script here and I KNOW what's going to happen in the future, so don't worry yourself about it, just stay with us (me and Rag's) and watch as shit unfolds.

Either way, I'm back after my exams! And please tell me what you think of this!

Read and Review ^^

PS: DO NOT try hitting on so many girls at once, gentlemen. This is purely fanfic stuff and unless you think you're a big shot cassanova, DO NOT try this at home (not like you can bring them all home at once anyway :D)


	8. Chapter 8: Bros

Welcome back to-

Ash: Man, last week's episode had a lame ending.

Me: Shut up, ass wipe. Now watch as stuff happens. NAO!

Chapter 8: Bros

Something wasn't right.

From the moment those exact words popped into my head, I KNEW something wasn't right. I don't feel that soft, fluffiness of my flea-clean pillow. The last I remembered, I was chatting with Kanon about random stuff. Then I fell asleep…

And that…warmness on my forehead.

Something, some warm, soft NICE thing touched my forehead for a moment before I drifted of to sleep. Whatever that was, it sure felt nice.

Groaning as I woke up (do ALL OF THESE chaps start with me waking up?), I did a few light stretches as I stood up. As my uncle once told me, doing exercises is a great way to get your momentum going. Well…no wonder I was so out of it yesterday…

Wait what am I, a mother?

And speaking oh which, where the heck is Rag's? Guess I'll go look for him soon.

After walking round the nearest toilets and taking a quick few minute shower, I saw Licca on my way back to the same couch I headed to.

From this angle, she looked…damn weird? As in, she's still damn hot, yeah. I mean weird as in lost kind of weird, like she was thinking of something.

Hey, HEY. Being mentally insane DOES NOT mean you can't have a knack for reading people.

Quickly jogging over to her before she would vanish into the god arc chambers, I quickly tapped her on the back, "Hey, Licca?"

"Eeek!" she nearly jumped as she turned, and realised it was just me, "Oh, it's you. Do you need something? Bullet upgrades, repairing your god arc, something else?"

Uh…what was up with our engineer today? She's acting almost as freaky as me.

"Nothing really, just wanted to ask where Rag's is, that's all."

At the very first mention of designer glasses, girl nearly jumped again. I didn't respond this time, basic rules of how to observe flustered people. What am I trying to say exactly? Well, just this: at the mention of Rag's, she turned red, as in REALLY red. Next? She started to stutter around, "Wh…what about…Ragner?"

First name basis? I smell fishiness.

"I just asked, have any idea where he might have gone?" I probed again.

"He uh…" she managed after she caught me shooting my eyebrow upwards, "he left on a mission alone."

Ah, Rag's is an early riser too eh? I'm too lazy to eat any breakfast, although I did get the chocolate and energy bars from Sakuya in the end…

Wait, ALONE!

What was that guy, crazy? She didn't really say much after that, just telling me she had more god arcs to repair and then went off.

Guess repairing the whole of the defence squads god arcs does take some time.

Inwardly sighing, I let myself sit on the couch and unwrapped the chocolate bar that Sakuya had given me and crammed it into my mouth. Damn, this thing really does take away all the memories of last night's carrot nonsense…

Gosh that sucked.

Tossing the empty wrapper expertly into the trash bin, I closed my eyes for a moment to let myself rest a bit more. Hey, Hibari looked really busy on that laptop and I don't think much of the gods eaters will be here now. Seems as if they all tried to avoid me I think?

What part of me is so jarring anyway?

However, as the stupid author had planned, my extra rest didn't last long. I heard the sound of the entrance opening and felt the sofa sink in not too long. Judging from the grunts and soft mumbles, I'd say there was someone sitting next to me.

Opening an eye, I greeted the guy I tried to look for, "Hey Rag's, what's up."

Normally, NORMALLY, he would respond to anything I say. Instead, all I heard was a small grunt coming from his breath. His eyes stared down at the floor and his fists were clenched. This was definitely not a good sign for a man. I gave him a few meaningful glances, but he didn't really seem to notice it.

"Dude, what happened?" I asked him finally.

"I got my ass whooped…"

Ass whooped? Honestly that was rather vague. What was the mission about anyway. Still, that look in his face, I know what's coming now.

Then I have to play the psychology card. Damn, this is gonna hurt…

"Dude, is that what you're worried about? Is that it?" I injected as much sarcasm in my voice as I tried to.

"Why don't YOU try having your ass whooped?"

"Ass whooped?" I let out a light chuckle, "the great Ash never gets his ass whooped…"

I felt myself suddenly being lifted off the couch, Rags now grabbing my collar hard, "How about I whoop it right now!"

It hit me right at that moment, and I could have face palmed if not for the fact that my awesome suit was being grabbed. This guy, he's pissed. He doesn't even know the actual reason why he's pissed, THAT was what the problem was.

"You don't get what this is about do you?"

"Yeah really, I don't," he tightened the grip on my collar, "enlighten me."

Good GOSH, at least try to understand yourself here! I'm starting to think all my bragging rights is going to go without a fight.

"You know what? I can't," I paused for a moment seeing him seethe, "but all I know…"

"Is that I won't FAIL like you."

*WHAM*

The most anticipated move came. Ragner swung his fist. The impact collided with my jaw, sending me sliding across the floor. Even Hibari looked up for a moment, but was seemingly too afraid to do anything. Rags was panting now. Judging from the looks on his face, he wouldn't hesitate to hit me again. I clenched my jaw, made sure nothing was broken.

Nothing broken?

Alright, here goes something.

"Was that it? If you got something stuck there..." I said, pointing at his head as I stood back up, "Calm down and talk. Or do you wanna hit me back again?"

I know, I COMPLETELY know why the dude was angry, he just doesn't know it himself, and that's why he hit me.

The dude walked over to me again and raised his fist. However, he seemed to finally think this time as his breathing calmed, "Talk about what this time, and as a warning, pick your words carefully."

Hey, I was pissed to ok? I normally wouldn't let anyone hit me like that, but I understood what Rags felt, so I DID choose my words carefully.

…

What, are you SURPRISED I'm being CONSIDERATE, hmm?

"Spill it then. Or I'll make you spill it," I tried to raise a fake fist, but the pain in my jaw got to me, "and that hurt, asshole."

"It's meant to. Deal with it," he cracked his knuckles and hook it a little, "I'm feeling slightly better now, depressed as hell. But damn that punch felt awesome."

Screw you. You avoided the question AND admitted you loved to punch me?

Be happy I let you keep Licca. But for now, onto the main question.

"Why did you get "ass whooped"? I don't believe you would do anything I wouldn't call crazy, and dude..." I suddenly noticed a long line down his arm, "are those SLASH marks?"

"Yeah, from my new friend, the Vajra."

WHAT!

"You one on one a Vajra? Dude I always wanted to…" I suddenly noticed he might punch me again, so I decided against another fist, "Oh uh…I mean, that was retarded, what was that for?"

"The mission details said four ogretails, it said no shit about a bloody Vajra."

He's getting worked up again…

"Then why fight it alone? Run the hell back and get back up."

"It's gone already. This isn't the only souvenir I got from him." he replied, pulling his shirt up slightly to reveal a giant bruise.

This dude must be made of titanium if he doesn't feel the pain.

"Ouch, really did a number on you... So, when's the next mission hunt for this thing?"

"There will NOT be a mission hunt!"

We saw Tsubaki walking down the stairs, clipboard in hand. This, this is one of the times which I really, really hate Tsubaki. My pal here is in a man crisis, and she tells me NO HUNT!

Of course, my respond was near instantaneous, "WHAT! What do you mean no mission hunt?"

"A mission that difficult is out of the question for you rookies! The Retaliation squad will handle the Vajra. Ragner, go get that bruise checked out by your unit medic or the medical bay."

"SCREW THE RETALIATION SQUAD!" I suddenly yelled at her. It's alright if people didn't understand people like me, I'm not that sane either an I don't give two damns if I'm understood or not. But look, Rags is downright depressed, a MAN is depressed after a battle. Damn woman understands no shit about men.

After some kid yelling of stuff about defence squad stuff, I turned my attention back to Rags, "Rags, can you move your body properly?"

"I think I ca-Whoa!" He almost fell down just as he tried to stand.

So much for that.

"I'll get you to Sakuya, right this bloody instant." I said, ignoring Tsubaki's glare of impending doom, strutting up to the counter, I grabbed the mic from Hibari, "Sakuya Tachibana, wherever you are, you are needed in the medical room immediately for urgent treatment of a patient. Please report NOW."

"I'm fine, I'll be fine in a few minutes."

Sighing, I raised my hand, giving him a hard slap on the back. Simple tests, readers, if the dude screams, eh's TOTALLY not okay.

…

Hey…

"Um... You're supposed to scream in pain?"

"And give you the satisfaction? Not on your life."

"Wah, I..."

I was too shocked for WORDS. Was this guy made of bloody metal?

"Look" I sighed, "just go, I sacrifice my ass for yours. And I swear, I think Tsubaki does more damage than that Vajra. I didn't make that announcement for fun you know?" I jiggled my eyebrows as I whispered.

"I'll tell you my awesome plan once you're back down."

Smiling, Rags stretched himself as he answered me, "Feel free to tell me now."

"I can't, Tsubaki will kill me," I continued in a hushed tone, "Look, just go. I'll go get you soon, I just have to distract her awhile."

After conceding to my awesome persuasion skills, Rags relented and got into the elevator. As soon as he did that, I got right down to Tsubaki…

Who in fact, talked first, "That settles that, make sure NONE of you are found going on the mission. Or else…" With that, she walked off.

Man that was easy. Now all that was left is Hibari.

Walking over to her, I begin my awesome speech, "Hey-"

"You are NOT going after that Vajra. That final order was given from Tsubaki herself, don't break it."

BLOODY HELL WOMAN!

"Oh come on," I whined as I placed my head on the reception desk, "this is isn't about dead or alive, this is about a man's pride, Hibari!"

"I'm pretty sure Tatsumi said something similar before," she rolled her eyes, taking them of her laptop, "I remember the first time, he nearly got killed."

Geez…

Look, I got one last method, but I really don't want to resort to this (though honestly I wouldn't try it, I'm not even going to MENTION it) I must still try my normal methods.

"Look," I played out my second last card, "Just let me and Rags go. I'll do you a really big favour, I promise you!" She looked rather sceptical at my offer, "What would you do?"

"I'll keep Tatsumi away from you for a week, sound good?"

The reaction was nearly as instantaneous as mine, I swear.

"REALLY! Settled, no taking back your words!"

…

I ARE AWESOME.

Right on cue, Rags walks through the lift doors. Now, time for my awesome plan, "Get this, we give that Vajra a REVERSE ass whoop!"

"Look, can't we wait till another day? God knows where that Vajra is right now."

"I'm going now, cause I want some action," I told him matter-of-fact-like, "but I need to show off to somebody."

"And who do you have in mind?"

Well, duh, since it's only us two…

"YOU, dumbass!" I patted him on the back, "but make sure your girlfriend doesn't tell anyone we went!" His face turned crimson, no doubt I hit the spot!

"Sh-she's not my girlfriend! Anyway, she's having lunch right now..."

What? She walked into the canteen since just now and I didn't even NOTICE? Dude, I must be so out of it, but I had to make sure that she was free.

"Yeah? So, can I have her?"

The dude looked away, despite the fact that he said, "Go ahead…" that was the sound of DOUBT. When you have DOUBT, you don't get the woman.

But well, reality sucks that way, I'm just a little different.

"Well, I'll save that for another time, but we got more important stuff to do." I said, tugging him hard by the shoulders, "Come on, we go now."

Dragging him all the way to the god arc storage area, I noticed him looking a little down ever since I mentioned Licca. Dude, the crushing here is more than obvious.

"Say, isn't she usually with you? Why didn't you two eat together, that's proper dating rules man."

His eyes snapped open for a moment, "Things happened….it's complicated. Look, are we gonna get that Vajra or not?"

"Avoiding the question gets you no where... But yeah, I'm itching to get this thing."

Seemingly glad I changed the subject to something different, he mentioned it was last found in an area called the sunken city.

All right then!

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Sunken City<strong>

"Uh…" I squinted my eyes over the empty area, "this DOES look pretty empty you know. You sure it was here?"

"I told you already, I have no idea where it went. It's been over three hours, its probably moved on."

"Oh right, if that's the case…"

Gazing out into the horizon, I saw a figure far off.

"Wait, what the heck is THAT!"

"Maybe this thing had kids?"

HEY HEY WAIT A SECOND! I KNOW I SO SAID THAT A FEW CHAPTERS BACK!

Or...was that Lindow?

"Hey that…never mind, So then, do we sneak or rush in like idiots?"

The dude inwardly sighed as squatted on the ground. Then, closing his eyes, he placed his hands on the ground.

"Just one Vajra, nothing else nearby."

Whoa…that was cool, "You sense by doing that?"

He actually looked kind of happy there at the compliment, "It's not really sense. I feel the vibrations in the ground made by footsteps. By feeling the vibrations made, factor in how they are, how heavy they are and their pace, I can tell what it is and how fast it is moving."

In short? You're actually pretty badass, but I've drifted from the main point now, "In other words, we charge in like idiots?"

"Feel free to do so," Rags rolled his eyes, "that thing moves wicked fast. It can outrun you easily."

"But you agreed to go with me despite the fact that it's overpowered anyway," I readied my god arc and prepared to get off, "at the very least, we give it a few darn good slashes."

"In time we will," he nodded and pulled the crank, sending his god arc into gun mode, "but I'd rather weaken it first."

Hmm…judging from the fact that Rags might have already fought the Vajra for a bit, and that it should be relatively weaker by now…I'd say we'll end it fast.

Jumping from my corner, I ran round to make sure I got behind that lion. I could see Rags taking aim from here.

"Alright," I said into the mic, "just don't mortar me like the last time." Why? I will seriously kill him if he does it again!

Sending my god arc into predator mode, I let loose the black mouth as it bit of a hunk of Vajra. Simultaneously, Rags let loose two divine bullest which smacked it right in the head, nice!

I didn't anticipate that next move though.

Before I could react, the Vajra jumped and for a moment, I thought it noticed Rags. That was, before I noticed a lightning ball flying toward me at mach speed.

"Shit!"

The ball of lightning attached itself to my body for a second before exploding around me, sending me crashing into a wall.

!

Argh…!

Shit…not now! That constant pain I've been having in my arms and chest, not now!

"Gay bastard…" I gripped my god arc tightly and rushed, "TIME FOR PAYBACK!"

No aragami hits Ash without some reverse ass whoop!

Just as the Vajra attempted to claw me, I did the first thing that popped into my head.

I slid, no joke.

As the claw was centimetres from my face, I leant back diagonally and let gravity pull me as I slid under the Vajra, sticking my god arc up and running the long blade through its guts UNDERNEATH it.

Now THAT was bloodshed!

Coming out from behind, I grabbed its tail just in time as Rags somehow SHOT a stun grenade at the Vajra's face.

THAT, was some light!

"Chew on this!"

Tightening the grip on its tail, I gave one swift strike and cut of its tail. The thing wriggled on the floor for a second.

Alright, time to finish it off…

Suddenly, as I raised my blade, I couldn't help but focus my attention on the tail.

"Argh…!"

The sudden pain in my head and chest again, made me rooted to the ground. Something, some instinct at the back of my head kept telling me to do something to the tail. In fact, if not for the fact that I was resisting, I think I would've lost myself.

Come on Shikigami, get a hold of yourself! You're in battle!

My mind was only brought back to reality when I heard Rags extracting the core of the dead Vajra. Damn, that's what I get for getting random chest and headaches.

"Dude," Rags said as he heaved his god arc over his shoulder, "why'd you freeze up like that?"

Damn, I can't let him know now can I?

"Freeze up? When'd I do anything like that?

"Don't bullshit me man, you were staring at the tail," he countered back.

"Was I?" I feigned ignorance, blinking, "must have been your imagination. I don't freeze in epic battles, that's wasted moments man."

"And you wasted quite a bit of time on that epic tail," he smirked back at me. GOSH!

"Look, we beat the lightning lion, that's good enough, now, we better get back before Tsubaki finds out we've been breaking rules."

"Amen to that…I wouldn't be surprised if she east us alive," Rags shivered as we began our journey home, "something's even the bias factor can't save us from huh?"

Guess we are more similar than we think!

"I'm too scared to even THINK about that," I shivered in agreement, "but don't worry, I think I managed to convince Hibari to not tell on us when you went for your checkup."

"Right…." He sniggered, "touch her in the ass to convince her?"

…

WHAT, WHAT! WHEN THE HECK DID HE…WHAT THE!

"What kind of conclusion is that? I'd never do that!" I exclaimed, waving my hands in the air.

"That's not what I heard yesterday," Rags restrained himself from laughter.

"Who did you hear that from anyway!"

"Tachibana."

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

After a few more light squabbles and nonsense like that, we arrived back at Fenrir, where we saw Licca in the corner repairing more god arcs.

Oh well…guess I should leave him alone now.

"Hey Rags," I nudged him in the ribs, "have fun with your girlfriend."

I was off before he could even protest, walking past Hibari and giving her a thumbs up sign. Taking the elevators back to the rookies level, I dragged myself back to my room.

"Damn…what the hell was that all about?"

I thought about the pain in my chest and head I seemed to be having recently, it definitely wasn't normal. It was like…

Something was growing in my head, bloody freaky. Like some brain growth.

Urgh…creepy, maybe all this aragami fighting finally got to me. Oh well, time to go try what I wanted to do anyway: hack the terminal in my room. It doesn't seem to be able to play any games, so I thought maybe I could try something.

Kick starting the terminal, the first thing I noticed was an email sent to me. After hitting the unlock code on my personal terminal, I moused over mail and opened it.

"Let's see….what?"

Funny, the mail said it was for Rags, but why's it here? Oh well, guess I'll send it back later. Bored out of my mind, I decided to read the contents of the mail. This might have some useful info on Rags. Maybe he was a secret criminal or…

"Wait…" I blinked at the lines in the middle, "you can't be kidding me. EUROPE!"

Rags…he so has to see this, and I don't think he's going to like it.

* * *

><p>Nothing much to say, R&amp;R<p>

Note: BTW, Rags is gonna be gone in Australia for awhile, so don't expect any updates on both our ends soon.


	9. Chapter 9: A Lesson Learnt

Rags: Hurry up.

Me: YEAH YEAH!

Chapter 9: A lesson learnt

**It has been a few days since Ragner had left for Europe. Obviously, this message is to remind you that he is now back-**

SCREW THE COMMENTATOR! I'M JUST GLAD HE'S BACK, NUFF SAID!

I did manage to pull off a few missions with some of the other gods eaters around the den and yeah, I MIGHT have gotten to know some of them better (even though they may still be wary of me, for some reason). I mean, come on…

I even did one with Karel, and I nearly punched his teeth out (no details for you, suckas).

You can't even fathom how gay…happy I felt when Rags finally got back from Europe. He looked pretty okay, in fact he looked a tad stronger. However, something seemed a little off about him, like he was distracted about something. I mean, when I bump him, he barely responds. Adding on the fact that he IGNORES my sarcasm means that our second new type here really got some problems.

Still…

I can totally understand that, man. I can tell, its probably not just about one thing either, its many things. Well, call it man's intuition if you want, but that's how I see it anyway…

He's got a thing for our dear Licca Kusunoki.

Oh well, guess I can't always be there to help him out. Anyway…he's probably a little older, so he should know how to handle his problems way better than me.

Either way, where was I now….

….

I don't even think I actually began anywhere.

Bloody author.

**Some time after the previous chapter…**

Good gosh…this author always starts me up in my own room.

Yeah, you know the drill, me, lying down on my bed facing up towards the ceiling and downright bored. I don't really feel like using the air conditioner now since it is pretty cooling.

Getting my lazy bum of the bed, I threw open the windows allow some fresh air enter my nose…

…

Okay, never mind, screw that, not very FRESH I guess.

Closing just one of two windows, I heard a sound that I hadn't heard in a very long time. A small chirp continuously sounded from my open window. When I turned around, there I was, staring at something I thought extinct…

"Hey there little fella…"

It was a sparrow. A good, honest to heart, sparrow.

I haven't seen these babies in awhile, ever since the aragami came in to rape our asses anyway. Unlike old times, the bird didn't fly away when I reached out and touched its head.

But instead…it rubbed its head again my palm, almost affectionately.

I couldn't help but break into a stupid grin, "What up man, haven't seen anything like you in a very long time. You still got family out there?"

The bird suddenly looked up from my hand and stared right straight into my eyes, well, if a bird could do that anyway.

What kind of idiotic question am I asking anyway?

"Of course you're alone," I mumbled, "just like myself huh…? Just like myself…ah hey!"

Without warning, the bird pushed out of my hand. Flapping its wings, it slowly leapt of the ledge of the window and flew off.

"Hey wait up a sec…DAMMIT!", I slammed my fists against the window ledge, "Damn bird! I said get back here! Don't fly off, I say!"

"Don't…go."

I unclenched my fists as I slowly settled back into the sofa, closing my eyes. I know, I know. I'm not angry at the bird, anger wasn't what was welling in me.

More of jealousy.

I was jealous that the bird could still live its life normally, flying in the sky to be free. Us here? We are dogs of Fenrir, fighting for freedom in a world where peace could actually be impossible. Even in battle, I'm not as hot as I make myself out to be.

I screw up, I leave all the planning to Rags. I don't do anything but potentially mess up and sometimes hinder people. My inability to do anything after raping that Vajra's tail proved that. I FROZE up in battle, that's the ultimate stupidity in a fight.

What's worse, everyone seems to have a goal. Kota's fighting to protect his little sister, Licca does all she can to maintain our god arcs so we can FIGHT for those dreams. Hell it seems even Rags got something worth fighting for (I'll bet my money its on Licca.)

"What am I doing!"

*thump*

I'm not even making sense and going out of character now…

…

I should go pick that pillow up now…

* * *

><p>*Testing, testing*<p>

I groan in annoyance as the loud speakers start up. The only times where the speakers were used were either to call us guys in the first unit, or an emergency is happening which I highly doubt. Either that, or it's the highly unlikely third option…

*Testing…Ok. This is an announcement, will Recruit Ash Shikigami, report to the lobby immediately or severe punishment will be dealt. I repeat, report to the lobby immediately or severe punishment will be dealt by your commanding officer."

What? Mission time already? And why must Hibari say that THIS early into the morning…I'm not in the mood to do anything right now…

DON'T TROLL ME!

"What do you mean I have a mission!" I screamed back, ignoring the fact that probably no one would hearme anyway. I need my rest, so there's only one way that I'll go down. And NO, I will not say it, lest the stupid author plans for it to happen…

*And the punishment is, SPANKING FROM TSUBAKI!*

Sp-spanking…? That sounds pretty hot…wait a second, I'm not into sadism and masochism! Wait, in the name of all that was holy…was that RAGNER!

Man, why do I have to get trolled on one of my not so good days? I'M THE TROLL HERE (even the fans make me out to be)

"I'm sorry coffee," I muttered a small, incomprehensible curse after that. Grabbing my bandana, I slowly tied the black cloth of awesomeness around my head. I smiled a little as I saw myself in the mirror. Ya know, if there's one thing I don't think I'll ever lose, its this awesome as heck bandana.

Oh right, better leave my PSP back in my room so I won't run the risk of breaking it God knows how many times now.

Throwing on my coat and dashing out of my room, I (for some reason) rammed the 'down' button of the lift, just in time for it to open.

"Whew…" I sighed as I get my ass inside the lift, "I sure I don't get down too late. I sure as heck wouldn't want to miss any mission briefing from Lindow or Sakuya. THAT, and I don't wanna get spanked, I'm not into sad-masochism-"

"Um rookie, did you just say spank?"

"Uh-WAH!"

I nearly crapped my pants as the voice of Lindow Amamiya sent me out of my self-rants, "Li-Li-Lindow! What the hell are you still doing here?"

"That's what I was about to ask you, rookie," he folded his arms and stuffed a cigarette packet into his ass pocket, "I'm pretty sure you heard the announcements. Shouldn't you be downstairs for the mission briefing by now."

"Yeah sure, boss man. Then what the heck are YOU doing here?"

…

Lindow responded in the most pro manner by chewing on an unlit smoke. Rubbing his chin in thought, followed by a little scratch on his cheeks, he finally gave another boss-like reply, "Hmm, does finishing of the remainder of my beer pack make a good excuse?"

"SON OF A GUN!"

Lindow laughed as he flipped a lighter he took out (where the hell…) and lit the smoke.

"Is that even allowed in the lift?"

"Sakuya doesn't mind."

So my opinions don't matter anymore? DOESN'T IT?

*ding*

The sweet sound of the lift doors saved me from sandwiching my boss's face. Thanking God to get out of that smoke infested lift, the two of us made our way towards the lower deck of the lobby. Beside me, I could see Hibari giggling hard, her hands over her face to prevent me from seeing her.

"It ain't that funny, you know," I hissed as she laughed even harder, "and trolling is my job, not yours."

I saw a little notepad by the side of the counter and my brows raised a little at that. As he Hibari failed in an attempt to keep her calm composure, I read the message silently, "Sorry, I'm having the time of my life here, Shikigami. Consider it payback."

My gosh…

Resisting the urge to face palm, I continued down the staircase and tried to ignore the laughing Hibari. Narrowing my eyes down to a pair of large boobs and a pair of dark glasses, I could see who Lindow was talking to now.

"Meaning I got a long life ahead of me, is that what you're saying?" Lindow gives Sakuya a mock serious stare about whatever they were talking about. I gave Rags a small wave, and he smiled back a little and waved.

Well, seems like we're off to a good start compared to yesterday. Now all we better do is watch to love birds talk their talk.

"Keeping executive hours as usual?" Sakuya teased boss man slightly.

"Yeah just because I'm an executive."

…

Man, I bet Rags and I must be thinking the exact same thing as we crossed each other's line of vision: these two act TOO much like husband and wife!

"Alright, another day of fun work guys," Lindow clapped and rubbed his hands together, "It's gonna be four of us today. I'll take the lead, Sakuya you're the backup."

"Got it."

"And you two," Lindow gave us new types a look over his shoulder, "you'll be the commandos. Show us what a new type can do, remember your training."

Passing glances one last time, me and Rags grinned and saluted, "Yes sir!"

"Thank you for your very thorough orders, big boss."

At that little comment Sakuya made, I saw Lindow scratch his cheeks and blush a little while Sakuya let out a small giggle. DAMMIT LINDOW! He seriously needs to take a hint that this awesome woman likes him. See, this is why some of the dudes here are so damn dense.

Makes me wanna rethink my harem plan all over again. I have to leave Sakuya out of this….NO I SHALL NOT! I must not betray my ideals. I must do what Shirou Emiya did…though I must say that people DO die when they are killed.

Shaking my head out of my little thought, we trotted over to the famous god arc storage area was located. I gave a slight salute to Licca, indicating that we needed our God arcs for a mission.

"Right away!"

Running over to a little control panel and inputting a few codes, four god arcs rose from the ground and leant forward. Walking over, male boss and lady boss pulled their god arcs out and heaved it over their shoulders. Seeing as my long sword was in tip top shape as well, I was about to yell out for an epic mission start when I saw Rags talking to Licca.

Dude flirting now is so inappropriate.

That was what I thought until I saw what he was talking to Licca about.

"Um Licca? Where's my god arc?"

"Oh Ragner! I'm so sorry! Your God Arc is currently under repair, the shield system showed an error yesterday during a routine check so I had to lock it down for repairs. You won't be able to go on any missions," she apologised. After the three of us watched some more little arguements between them, Rags slumped and left.

"Now that's odd," Lindow looked at the crestfallen Rags, "usually she maintains the rookies god arcs first. Plus knowing Licca, she doesn't usually forget to do stuff like that."

I couldn't help but look slightly concerned. Odd, Rags never seemed that hard on (no pun intended) to get into battle before. Now, he looked genuinely PISSED that he couldn't set foot outside of fenrir.

Licca turned back and returned TRIED to return to work. Well, that was before she caught a certain group of three's eyes all looking at her.

"Ah…I uh…" Licca shook her head and grinned sheepishly, "guess this one time I really got careless huh? My bad, not getting much sleep lately."

"Don't push yourself Licca," Sakuya patted the younger girl on the back, "if you need rest, rest. Maybe you should hire an assistant or something,"

"I guess that may work…"

They shared a little laugh as Licca waved us off. As we headed out of the den, Lindow looked back and whistled slightly, "Women, even I need better understanding of them."

"Yeah, I know right?" I nodded in agreement, "Sakuya could give us some private lessons-"

"Keep dreaming boys!"

Hot DANG!

* * *

><p><strong>Sunken Grid<strong>

"Man, SCREW PIPES! I hate this place!"

"It's not going to take long, rookie," Lindow gestured as he pointed to something, "Our target's just right ahead: one Gboro-Gboro. Take it out and we're done for the day. If anything, I'd say the ogretails around the area are more annoying than the oversized fish itself."

I'd read up about the Gboro during some free time back in my room, and from its attack patterns, I think I shouldn't rush so much like I usually do with Rags.

"Alright here's the plan guys," Sakuya began a short briefing, "the ogretails around the Gboro are a great bother, so Lindow would take them out. Rookie, you and I will take that Gboro."

"Wait a sec, lady boss, what if the ogretails charge us?"

"Trust me," Lindow tapped his chest, "a few ogretails can't match the guy who singlehandedly…"

"Yes Lindow," Sakuya poked him, "we get it."

"You know I'm cool."

My eyes shifted back and forth between the two seniors who were teasing each other, and I mentally groaned. Man…these two…

"Get a room after the mission," I snickered.

"HEY!" the two seniors turned bright at my comment. Aw man, you should've seen the look on Sakuya's face! She was stuttering like a girl with a crush.

Or because she felt guilty at looking at Lindow and forgot about my charms.

"As I said, after," I heaved my god arc and prepared, "so, shall we?"

The three of us sped of the mission point, falling straight towards the ground. Like Rags, Lindow pressed his palms to the ground. I knew what he was doing this time, so I shut up and waited for further instruction.

"Up ahead, the two munchkins and the fish are all together."

Fine, since I'm appointed commando for this…

"Alright, time for this," I began, "Lindow, as Sakuya mentioned, take the small fry, so you charge in first. The Gboro will notice you. Two of us will run in and ram the gboro from the side, it won't expect it."

"Not bad," Lindow smiled, "and last but not least?"

Right, "Don't die, now let's kick ASS!"

Giving a small salute, Lindow sped of towards the group of aragami, readying his blade in a battle stance. Since his god arc was so damn **noisy, **the aragami that were chewing of the ground noticed him.

"Come and get some Lindow Amamiya, ya monsters!" he smirked as he did an Olympic jump forward, his blade digging into the first ogretail. The second one swung its tail at him, but Lindow was faster, ducking at the moment of the swing and flipping backward. Grabbing the second one by its tail, Lindow brought down the blade, cutting the tail.

Giving me the signal, Sakuya beckoned for me to go around a few large pieces of debris to get behind the gboro.

*GWAAAAAK*

The roar of the giant fish was like something slashing my ears. However, that was our cue to strike. From behind, I could hear the wailing of the ogretails and skin being torn through. I guess Lindow was doing his job well.

*chik*

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a flash grenade.

*RAAAAAAAAAAR*

"Rookie, are you sure Lindow's going to be-"

"A certain moron with designer glasses taught me to think," I smirked as I removed the stopper with my teeth, "its annoying, but a good brain exercise, much better than I expected too. So I'm damn right not going to let Lindow get hurt."

*BOOM*

The sound of metal exploding…the gboro must've got impatient. I could hear Lindow's strained voice as the fighting went on. As pro as he is, even someone like Lindow couldn't hold long. However, I didn't hear the ogretails anymore, which meant they were down.

Fine…let's do it.

"On my cue, Sakuya…"

Five…

I bent into a running position, the flash bang in my hand felt heavy as I counted.

Four…

"Sakuya!"

"On it!"

Three…

Sakuya leapt out from behind, taking a professional aim at the gboro's eyes.

Two…

The gboro howled as it reeled back from the electric lasers went straight through it.

"BOSS, LADY BOSS!" I yelled, "CLOSE YOUR EYES!"

One…

Rolling out of my position, I swung my arm with all my strength and sent the flash straight into the gboro's face. Coming into contact, the little white object exploded, causing a white light to envelop the area.

"Sakuya, continue support fire," I nodded toward her as I sprang forward, "I'll need this opening."

Pulling the switch, I sent my god arc into predator mode and let loose the black mouth against the Gboro, "Chow time, you freak!" I pulled back the god arc, feeling the all too familiar rush of oracle cells pulse through my veins.

"Alright! Lindow, maul that loser from the front!"

"I got ya!"

Rolling out of harms way from an impending blast of water, Lindow thrust his blade into the gboro's chest, causing blood to spill all over it. Jumping slightly, he used the rising force and placed one foot on its closed mouth.

Of course, the gboro chose that time to get agitated and open up.

"Lindow!"

Smirking, he swung his hand that still held the god arc. It was a sight to behold, one moment the fish was going to eat him, the next it had a chunk of metal in between its eyes.

Wait, between the eyes!

*ROAAAAAR*

Shit, Lindow missed, and now its pissed.

"Damn it, off the target," Lindow quickly let himself fall back to the ground, only to be knocked back as the Gboro started flailing madly. I could see Sakuya trying to fire more shots to distract it, but the aragami showed no signs of calming down.

And man, all this fighting is making my vision go yellow...

Yellow...-ish green?

"Rookie!" Sakuya yelled out, "it's a Gboro's 'poison gas'! Get out of the radius!"

"The fu-"

Too late, the cloud exploded in front of me, tossing me back into a pipe.

"Rookie-argh, move it!" Lindow cursed and swung his blade at the Gboro in an attempt to make it back off, "Sakuya, get him to the side, and administer a detox!"

"Damn it, I can still fight…urgh…"

I felt a sickening feeling course my veins as the effects of my burst started to wear off. It was as if something was eating up my blood vessels at a rapid rate. I tasted something on my mouth as well…

Blood?

I had no time to think about it as Sakuya grabbed me and jumped to the side, unintentionally flinging me away. Helping me up, she dragged me over to a corner where I could see Lindow slashing and hacking away at the aragami.

Shit…

"Alright rookie, don't too much and lift out your arm," Sakuya pulled out a small syringe as I did as told. Sticking the needle into my arm, she explained how she injected same kind of detox that would cure the poison, but not immediately.

"Stay here, Lindow and I would be finishing it off soon."

"Hell no! I can still fight…" I weakly protested, only to cough more blood.

"Look, you were hit full steam by that poison. And trust me, its no joke. Now stay here!"

I watched helplessly as Sakuya ditched me and ran back to the frontlines, dodging and weaving through water jets and blasts. Lindow managed to jump his way up to the cannon horn and hack of part of it, courtesy to a burst mode he obtained who knows when.

I cursed out loud at the irony of it all. The battle had barely started, and one of their teammates, the leader of this mission, had already nearly fallen in battle. This sucks, I'm supposed to be leading this mission, and now I'm sitting back helplessly.

"Argh!"

I watched as Sakuya got hit by a jet stream of water she failed to dodge. Even Lindow seemed to be having trouble and couldn't find open devouring moments. Damn, so this is what it means that "one person costs you the battle."

I can't do anything now.

I feel useless…if only I can somehow give them more manpower….

…

"Hold on…"

Moving my finger over to the switch of my god arc, I pulled it down, swapping it into my assault rifle.

"I can still use…my spares from just now…"

Pulling up my aim reticule, I cycled through my bullets as I took aim at my squad leader.

"Damn, I just need one more jump!" I saw Lindow raising his shield as the Gboro smacked him.

Come on…where's that aragami bullet…

HERE!

I zeroed down my aim at Lindow.

"Who says…the great Ash can't help from the backlines…?" I smirked as I pulled the trigger.

"FIRING LINK BURST!"

My sudden shout caused the two seniors to look in my direction. Before either could say anything, the yellow bullet came into contact with Lindow. The Gboro seemed to take in Lindow's new yellow glow as a threat, lashing out at him and…

…only to have Lindow parry the fin smack.

"Damn, rookie…" He grinned as he pushed the Gboro back, "I feel GREAT!"

Using all his might, Lindow pushed back the gboro and double jumped into the air. Pushing himself forward, he did a vertical spin, striking the gboro by its side.

"Sakuya! Take one!" I yelled as I fired my second link burst towards her, "don't waste that condensed shot!"

"Gotcha!"

I watched as the gboro turned and flailed helplessly as the two seniors slashed and blasted their way at it, unable to match their sudden burst in movement and attacks.

"Alright, this thing's going down fast!" Lindow cried, ecstatic at the Gboro's helplessness, "a few more, Sakuya, keep at it!"

Unknown to them, a certain someone had flipped his god arc from gun mode to blade mode again.

"Despite all this shit…"

Gripping my god arc with both hands, I ran forward. It started out slow at first, but slowly, I picked up my pace and increased my movement speed.

"I'll still…"

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a stamina booster. Feeling revitalised, I forced my legs to move faster.

"The CHAMPION IS BACK!" I yelled gleefully as I ran headfirst into the Gboro, "Sakuya, launch the shot, NOW!"

"Firing condensed three way! Lindow, back off!"

Lindow complied and rolled out of the way, just in time as ALL three shots hit the Gboro inside its mouth.

*RAAAWWWWWWR*

"Rookie!"

"Its time for…" I leapt up into the air, looking the Gboro dead in the face, "COUP DE GRACE!"

Focusing all my energy into my lower body, I descended down onto the Gboro…

With its mouth still open?

"Whoa!" I cried as I landed straight into the mouth of the Gboro, "not cool!"

"Rookie, GET OUT OF THERE!" I heard Lindow shout.

"I'm on it…"

*GLOMP*

Before I could even react, the large mouth clamped shut, leaving the two seniors outside dumbfounded at what had just happened.

"R…rookie?" Sakuya stuttered.

"What…in hell!" Lindow gritted his teeth, so hard that the smoke in his mouth snapped, "what was that rookie-"

*SSSSCCCRRK*

The sickening sound of skin and flesh tearing sounded from inside of the Gboro. The seniors watched as the front jaws of the gboro were knocked through, leaving a gaping hole…

…and a god arc through it.

"Takes more than that to take me down, SUCKA!"

* * *

><p><strong>LATER...<strong>

I'm drenched in aragami saliva, friggin, aragami, saliva.

Damn gross.

Yeah, when I landed down into the monster, it didn't glomp me with its teeth. Apparently, I landed straight down on the tongue, so I didn't get eaten. Still…I'm covered in aragami saliva.

And as I said, epic gross out.

"The one last move totally freaked us out there, rookie," Lindow patted me on the back as we put our god arcs back, "but really, thanks for the link burst."

"Aw…how sweet, Lindow thanking a rookie," Sakuya giggled, "but yeah, thanks a bunch. But don't do anything stupid again! Lindow and I could have finished off just fine, you didn't have to do anything else, that burst was good enough. No need to strain yourself, you know?"

"Alright, 'mom'. I think our rookie here got an earful already."

The three of us chatted for awhile before noticing one minor detail…

"The hell is Licca?"

"Good point, she's usually here," Sakuya looked around, "maybe repairing Ragner's god arc?"

"Nah, she does most of her work here…but besides the point," I groaned, "I need to change. This goop will affect my chances with the ladies."

"Affect what?"

"Nothing at all, Sakuya."

Waving to my seniors a goodbye, I headed up towards the elevator. As I stood there, I couldn't help but think…

"Hey, Shikigami?"

…

Was that Hibari? And did she interrupt my thoughts, DID SHE?

"My gosh…why're you covered in goop?"

…

This uh…may take awhile…

* * *

><p>And I am ALIVE! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!<p>

Sorry this came out late, and substandard too. I just wanna let you know me and Rags are coordinating like mad, and that its my fault it came out.

Once again, I apologise to readers.

PS: Thanks Ragner for setting me on track. I sound like an ass, but I appreciate it.


	10. Chapter 10: A Date?

Note: Rags will be very busy serving the country, and I will have to start studying for end of year examinations (0-levels). So please do be patient with us.

Now…MOVE IT ALONG!

Chapter 10: A date…?

Let's see, pull up my jeans, throw on my black undershirt. Now we TIE MY BANDANA OF PURE TRUTH, and unzip my zipper, and we're ready to go!

Yeap, that's right, my folks, Ash Shikigami is now clean and aragami goop free! In fact, this is my fourth shower within less than 3 days!

…

Ok, I meant my jacket zipper, not my fly zipper, by the way.

I mean, seriously, how would you guys like to be showered in gboro-goop and then be made of by one of the girls in your would be harem? I know, yeah YOU, you're so damn laughing over there huh?

I don't see Rags very often. Maybe that's kind of my fault as well, since I'm always vanishing by myself. I mean, I'm starting to find stuff ironic. I claim that I want to go round and get a harem, but what am I doing here, walking out of the shower?

Okay, maybe the shower was kinda needed.

Getting myself out of the shower stalls, I slung the towel over my shoulder and, whistling a tune, walked out to the laundry area. Checking the directory that was slapped onto the side of the wall, I roughly pin pointed where the laundry area was and headed off.

…

And then I walked back to check it again.

"For the love of pete, this place is TOO DAMN FREAKING HUGE!" I slammed my fists against the map and started head slamming. If I can't even get to the laundry area, how am I supposed to get my awesome clothes back? I mean, sure, I have like 3 similar…okay fine, EXACTLY the same sets of clothing, but I like to keep my stuff neat and tidy, you know? The Ash Shikigami manly way?

You know you're jealous right now.

But damn, I thought as I squinted my eyes at the mini map, even the maps in the field missions are easier to read than this piece of crap.

"I seriously wonder who drew this lousy piece of shit," I said out loud, "I should really give some of my complaints to director Shicksal and Old Man Sakaki about some of the stuff around here. First is the lift, now the signs…"

"Oh no, is that a fool a hear blathering?"

Hmm, I know that voice anywhere. I may have only heard it once, but when my Shikigami senses start tingling, there's no doubt about who that voice is.

"Oh its you, ya little pri-" I stopped short as I saw another, older man follow behind Karel. His hair was a little grey, but it seemed more natural than dyed. His eyes were a deep, ocean blue and he wore similar colours on his work jacket, undershirt and long jeans (like ME).

He looks pretty damn serious. Not the moody serious, just…well, serious.

"Karel, do you know this boy?" the man spoke, his voice WAAAY deeper than both of us, "you two seem to know each other quite well from the immediate exchange of insult."

…

Wow, I couldn't even TELL of that was sarcasm. Seriously, he sounded WAY too straight saying that!

"Brendan, please," Karel scoffed, shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders, "I don't even want to be put on the same level as this guy. A sane person would question why he was made to become a new type in the first place!"

THAT PRICK!

Luckily, American dude managed to butt in before I could say anything, "Did you say new type? Oh, so you're that boy I must have heard so much about huh? Actually wait…there were TWO new type guys. But from the description I got from Kanon…"

"White hair, bandana, I don't know about the crazy part though…sharp green eyes. Do you happen to be an Ash Shikigami?"

Well, looks like Kanon already did the job of spreading my great name around this little den! I mean, this dude looks pretty senior in terms of experience.

"Yeah, got that one right man," I gave me signature, shiny teeth grin and outstretched my hand, "Ash Shikigami, crazy, totally of the rocker new type at your service, sir…?"

"Brendan, Brendan Bardell at your service, Ash," he nodded his head, a small smile spearing on his lips, "its nice to meet you. Don't worry about the whole crazy thing, I'm sure Karel must have exaggerated or something. You know how he can be sometimes."

"You have no idea, my fellow senior and aragami killing crime."

"Well, don't mind him. He's a really good guy, try to get along well with him, alright? I'd hate to hear complaints from anyone."

Wow, this guy looked like he could mean business too. I better get on this guy's good side all the time, lest he blows his top at me.

"Hey, does ANYONE not remember that I'm still standing here and listening to the both of you say all of this?" Karel tapped his foot impatiently on the ground, his face twisted into some kind of frown, "for your information, Shikigami, it was YOU who shot me with a freezing bullet at my hide THREE TIMES!"

"Aww, but that's just my way of saying hi to such a good guy. Come on, Karel, share the love!"

"With a poor mongrel such as you?" he nearly spat, "yeah, the only time that'd happen is when I get eaten by an aragami, which is NEVER going to happen."

Aw man, if my dad was alive right now, he would so sue the guy for calling us a mongrel. Yeah sure we were kind of not-so-rich, but we were decently financed! Still, senior is here, and as I said, I don't wanna start a scuffle now, so keeping my mouth shut it is.

"Oh hey, look at the time," Brendan barged in, "come on, the showers are gonna get crowded. Let's go Karel, later, Ash!"

Well, at least one person addresses me by name properly, sides my great bro Rags of course.

**The next day**

I still felt pretty good about it all, a senior calling me by my first name at all. I mean, you don't see a crazy dude like me getting much respect, don't ya? I mean sure, I might not have been to proud that he didn't address me as "that awesome new type" or whatever, but even a little recognition like this is good, you know?

"AH damn! I'm still kind of happy about that," I said to no one in particular, stretching my hands as I walked through the elevator, "righty, I should go see if there's anyone in the lobby to chill with, maybe Rags or something will be there."

"Don't you know when to zip it, Shikigami?"

Ah…that familiar, tsundere voice I'd always love to hear, Hibari Takeda.

"Oh? Sup, Hibari," I gave her a slight wave, "but why am I being asked to keep quiet? Unless…that was an excuse to talk to me?"

"When a kongou flies, maybe."

Damn it, she's a hard one.

Shrugging and making my way past her and made my way to the balcony, where I saw a familiar tuft of dark hair and designer glasses from my side.

"Yo," I said, albeit a little softly as I joined Ragner at his staring out over the balcony. He was a little hunched, hands on the railing and eyes unmoving. He seemed….SOMEWHAT peaceful, ye in deep thought as well. You know, like a monk?

Ok, maybe Rags isn't a monk. Still, there was sort of a calming aura between us two.

Yup, bros do that sorta thing…

…

…

"I'm bored," I unceremoniously broke the epic bro-silence. Man, THIS IS SO BORING! I mean, sure I love him in a total bro way and all, but this silence is unbearable!

"Hmm?"

Turning his head my way, he let out a small voice for a moment…before immediately returning to the position he was in previously. Damn him, DID HE NOT HEAR ME OBVIOUS NEED FOR ATTENTION!

"I'm bored," I repeated the same thing, same tone, hoping he would actually get the idea for us to do something together. I don't know, ANYTHING! Go on a group date, score some chicks…oh wait he has Licca (I think), hunt some aragami…

Yeap.

"I'm bored."

Sighing as I knew I wouldn't get a response I turned around and leaned myself against the handlebars. Huh…the old man was still there buying and selling stuff. Maybe I should go over there and give the guy some business, he looks like a beggar.

And…oh? Did Rags just cough? Did he finally notice my…

"Woooo! I touched Hibari's ass and it felt awesome!"

Wow, my voice sounds great even if it was said like that…wait a second, MY MOUTH WAS SHUT! RAGS! I'MMA FREAKING KILL YOU-

Though that was an awesome imitation of my voice

"Shikigami!" Hibari screamed from behind the desk, slamming her hand down on said desk. Damn, she's one pissed lady!

I backed away…only to realise I couldn't back away into anything. After seeing her tap a few more keys on her laptop, she looked like she was gonna jump from behind the counter…

…and THAT looks like my running cue.

Making the first move, I made a run for the god arc storage area. This time, I remembered where certain parts of the den were. Being in an office suit and all, obviously Hibari couldn't run that fast. Turning my head momentarily as I leapt of a few steps of the staircase, I made sure she wasn't….

Holy CRAP she's fast!

"You IDIOT, that's TWICE!"

"I swear it wasn't my fault! And it was ONCE!" I called as I ran down the god arc storage area. I couldn't use the same storage number again to hide in, it'd be way too obvious. Heck, why did I even run HERE? She'd know where I am! Damn it, for once, I made a stupid move…

"Though that's kind of an understatement…" I mumbled as I made a turn, running upwards to ANOTHER flight of staircases.

I knew where this would lead to, no way she would follow me inside here. It's a flawless plan, I tell you all. She would never be able to find me in the MEN'S SHOWER ROOM! Eat that, all you people who think I'm stupid and retarded!

I though faint, I could still hear Hibari's footsteps catching up. By my guess, she was almost up the staircase. Running up the final flight of staircases I needed, I found a sign that said "shower room" slapped up on the door. Grabbing the handle, I yanked it open and hid inside. Outside, I could still hear Hibari shouting, "Damn it, Shikigami! When I get my hands on you…"

Heh heh. Even you can't beat my master plans, Hibari Takeda. I don't care if you're a C-sized, orange haired chick around my age in an office suit, you will NEVER be able to find me here…

"Now…what was that voice outside?"

"Hibari again? She hasn't been in a very good mood lately. Theres this rumour someone grabbed her ass?"

"You think its that Shikigami guy? I heard he's a total creep, and a pervert to boot."

"Really? I heard he and that other new type, Ragner, are like some combat geniuses or something."

"I heard that Ragner's like, really cool!"

"Yeah, same here! Hey, didn't you notice that Licca has been-"

…

Huh…? Why do I hear women in the men's shower room? I mean, there wouldn't be a reason for them to, and there are more than one too-

….

Oh, my…

SHIIIT!

This cannot be happening right? Tell me this isn't happening! Te;; me I didn't lock myself in the girls shower room (as much as I would get a good view), this CANNOT BE HAPPENING!

"Crap…its so steamy in here…" I blinked my eyes quickly and rubbed it, "but I can't get out as of now, Hibari may be outside…"

But then again, she would probably have run off.

*squeak*

Damn it, I think the showers just turned off. Oh damn…

"Hey, did you see my soap?"

"It's right there…"

"Oh…"

*squeak*

The showers started running again, much to my relief. Alright, brain time. The odds of her being outside is highly unlikely, but if she is, I'm way faster so I can dash off fast. Guess it's a plus factor for me.

Alright, time for the plan, I nodded to myself for assurance and grabbed the handle of the doors.

And now…

…I BREAK THROUGH!

Twisting the door knob and not caring about stealth, I threw open the door and slammed it shut just as quick and ran to the staircase at the side.

"Now time for my great escape-"

"GOT YOU!"

AW, FUDGE STICKS!

There, right in my face, was Hibari Takeda. Her eyes were narrowed, like a Kongou ready to pounce on me (Kongou…?), and she was cracking her knuckles, coming down the staircase slowly.

"You know, I handle Tatsumi every single damn day," she cracked her left knuckle and advanced, "its not helping that you do this to me you know? Moreover, seems you couldn't have enough, eh, going into a girls shower room for God knows why…you pervert! Last but not least you…"

I could tell she was stuttering at the last part, I couldn't help but smirk even a little.

"I what…?"

"You gra-grabbed my-"

"I did what now?"

"ASH SHIKIGAMI! YOU KNOW WELL WHAT YOU DID AND SAID JUST NOW!"

Well, looks like she's gonna get off the stairs and pound my face in. Still, I can always head down the other direction…

Wait, did she just skip a step…!

"Hey Hibari, watch it!"

"Watch wha-ah!"

"Damn it!"

Her realisation came too late as she missed a step, and began to fall.

*CUE EPIC SLOW MOTION*

Reacting as fast as I could, I placed my right foot forward, getting a firm grip on the ground. Shifting my left leg backwards, I steadied myself in case of anything.

"I got ya!"

I stuck my hands out, and everything seemed to slow down as I caught her head in my right hand and her lower body in my left.

*END EPIC SLOW MOTION*

And by the way, folks. Just to let you know in case you're all wondering, catching a woman like that isn't as epic as it seems, really.

Either way…to the matter at hand. '

"Whoa, heeey!" I frowned at her, "if you wanna slap me at least do it WITHOUT tripping yourself? I mean, what good is there in hitting me if you get equal payback in return."

"Shikigami…"

"I mean really," I continued, "equivalent trade sucks BOLLOCKS sometimes, you know? You gotta do right what you gotta do right…"

"Could you…"

"Wait, I'm almost done with my awesome-"

"Let go of me…seriously."

Oh FINE!

* * *

><p>And it was so early in the day as well…good thing those female gods eaters NEVER found out…<p>

Well, Hibari pretty refused to look me in the eye for the remainder of the day so far. I did try to talk her up once or twice, but she kept looking away and mashing away at her keyboard.

Man, what's with everyone having things against me?

Well, after awhile, I did manage to get something out of her.

"You have a new mission assigned to you."

I mumbled something under my breath as I read the contents of the "concrete jungle mission." Huh, some zygotes and a Kongou…wow, that's much more than me or Rags usually take on. Let's see, party members…

"Soma…Lindow, Kota, Sakuya (aw yeah) and…Ragner," I read the list of members, "sweet, we're gonna have this easy!"

"Don't get it over your head, rookie."

Oh, that's someone I haven't seen in awhile. Whipping my head around, I turned to see Soma, walking straight pass me without even sparing a glance, "I don't want any unnecessary faults because three rookies flunked the mission."

Gee, who made him Captain Emo, some popular game company?

"Yo, Ash!"

"Brota!" I slapped my other buddy a high five, "haven't seen you much since that mission with us three rookies."

"Yeah, same here," he nodded, "got to know some of the other guys. Gotta say though, guys like Shun are pretty hard to get along with, strong as they may be."

Oh, hat man huh? I've heard the stuff about him being not much of a team player. I should find that out by myself, only talked to him a few times.

"So," Kota pumped his fist, "ready to prove who's best to Sakuya?"

"That's like default victory for me, you stand no chance against the great, awesome, MANLY, Ash Shikigami-"

"Sounds like some people are fired up for this. That's good attitude I say!"

Hey, I'm pretty sure it only smells like cigarettes, alcohol and a whole lot of boss-ness with one dude in the house, BOSS MAN!

Sure enough, he came not too long after Kota, Sakuya tagging along behind him, looking pretty damn cheerful. Fact was, the only one who seemed remotely emo was Soma. As my dad would say, "What a party pooper."

Wait, or did George Washington say that? Never mind. The whole crew's almost here now. Though I must wonder, where on earth was Rags?

"Oh, he's probably busy with a woman or something," Lindow blew a little more smoke before crushing the bud, "you know, guys like him probably get popular with the ladies, so don't mind him. Let him have some…alone time, was it?"

Oh come on, don't rub THAT in my face! Damn, must regain confidence levels!

"Hey, lady boss!" I did a little jump as I faced Sakuya, "watch and see how much I've learned alright! I promise I won't drag you down!"

"Sure, sure, I'll be watching," she placed her hand over her mouth, stifling a laugh.

Well, looks like this'll be a fun jaunt…but something seems off. More like SOMEONE seems off…

"Anyone seen Rags around," I asked the crew, "I haven't seen him since this morning, so I'm sure at least some of you guys MIGHT know…" More like I wanna PUNCH THE GUY IN THE FACE for almost letting Hibari screw me up! I almost lost my chances with-

*thump thump*

"Hey, glad to see you could make it," I heard Lindow say.

I heard someone other than Lindow respond. Taking a quick glance away from Sakuya, I resisted the urge to scream "BLOODY MURDER" as Ragner entered the scene. He looked a little energetic though, if anything, probably after effects of getting me into trouble.

We'll see.

"Ready to head out?" boss man asked Rags, nodding his head towards the door.

"Ready as I'll ever be," he nodded back, placing his earpieces on. Well, least he's in one of his better moods.

**Old City**

Wow, this time shift is faster than I thought…er…I mean…wow, we got here pretty quickly.

"Hey! It's another great day to work!" Lindow heaved his god arc over his shoulders, "Return to base safe and sound! That is all!"

Hmm, time to take notes…wait what?

That description was rather…well described. In a Lindow Amamiya sense at least. Great men speak small words, or too many like me.

"Huh? That's it?" Kota looked a little disappointed at boss man. Really, Brota. You need to understand the power of philosophy. Well, I'm sure he would get there soon enough, I just took a way shorter time to understand all that.

Slick, eh?

"You won't last long if you keep questioning him like that," Sakuya whispered to Brota-the-not-so-epic.

"What a drag…"

Yep, that was Soma.

Looking around at the ragtag crew of the first unit, a huge grin crept to Lindow's face, "Glad to see that with the exception of two of us, our souls are all connected.

YOU HOE, WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME AND RAGS?

"Hey man what gives! Stop staring!" I yelled at him.

"Whatever," Rags growled, lifting the god arc to his shoulders. Yeah, I'm pretty pissed too.

"I'm kidding, take it easy," Lindow laughed, quickly waving his hand in front of him.

DAT HOE!

"This is the first five-person mission this team has performed. Just do what you always do."

Five? Wait a sec, what about him?

"Huh? What about you Lindow?"

Stop stealing my lines, Brota…and never, EVER, question a boss man or face the consequences. I mean, did he even read the manual?

"Well you see... I've been asked on a secret date right after this." Lindow answered, pulling out his phone for emphasis, "and if I don't get there soon my date will get mad and leave! Talk about impatient!"

Wait a second, you're leaving us to go on with some hot chick? AND YOU DIDN'T BRING ME? WHAT THE FU-

…

Huh…that's a really…odd looking message checking page…because I'm sure a message page…does not have a radar on it…

Hmm, must be my imagination.

"Well I'm taking off now guys, my orders are the usual: don't die, make sure you come back alive."

"They're your own orders, make sure you follow them yourself…" Soma grunted as he turned towards the ledge. Just before Lindow walked off, Sakuya scrunched her eyebrows at his direction, "Try not to stay out too late Lindow, ok?"

You'd think she'd be jealous at least.

With Lindow now gone, Sakuya turned to the rest of us, "Let's go!"

All right, mission start-huh? Why the hell wasn't Rags getting off?

"Uhhh you guys go ahead, I gotta take a dump," Rags grimaced, one hand around his stomach. Damn it! First you make me almost get screwed up by Hibari, and NOW you need to take a shit? Really, timing could've been better, ya know!

"Alright, don't take too long." Sakuya yelled up to him.

"I'll try not to!"

Anyway, now that that's settled.

**Operation: Concrete Jungle.**

**Commence.**

Damn…bold font is awesome…*ahem*

"Alright, quick briefing," Sakuya was quick to get to it, "three zygotes and a Kongou, not anything we hadn't handled before. So, substitute commander, what's the plan."

This one was easy, even a moron could think it through.

"Zygotes, FLY, don't they? I hate flying stuff, so Soma and Kota, you guys take charge of killing of the Zygotes and since Soma can extract cores. Sakuya, you and I go rape some monkey ass since you can heal me."

"Why'd I gotta go with the rookie…" I heard him mutter.

"Aw c'mon, I'm not THAT bad."

"Cause I'm boss that way," I grinned, "final words-er, orders. Don't die, so we don't let boss man down. If Rags comes back in time, this'll be even easier. That's all."

"Understood?"

Three nods, alright.

"Commence!"

Today, I'll try that short sword Rags is so fond of using.

Hiding round the corner of a building, the timing couldn't have been more awesome as all three of the zygote were right around the corner.

"Kota, you're up first, since you run the fastest."

"Gotcha!" he gave me a thumbs up and ran out, "Hey, ya floating egg shells! Eat bullet!"

Spamming that trigger, Kota launched a barrage of colourful bullets at the flying aragami. At the first shot, the group sighted us.

"Soma, back him up. Sakuya, ignore them and let's go!"

"Don't need to tell me that…" Soma charged forward and jumped, slamming his blade down on the first zygote and dropping it to the ground.

That's some…really LEET buster skills.

Running past the three zygotes, one of them in the middle tried to tackle me, but Brota was ready. Spamming more of his flashy bullets, he got it down in seconds. Up ahead in a large, destroyed warehouse, I could see the Kongou eating some metal.

This'll be a snap, seeing as Rags and I used to EAT Kongou's for breakfast (once again, don't take me seriously).

Motioning for Sakuya to keep it down, I snuck round the gorillas ass and pulled the crank, sending my god arc into devour mode. When the mouth fully appeared, I released it, signalling the start of the battle.

"EAT SHIT!"

Taking a bite from the Kongou, it turned and immediately noticed it. Unfortunately for it I…

"I'm ON FIRE, BAYBEH!" a did a maniacal scream, "Sakuya, covering fire!"

"You got it!"

Dodging to the side with extreme ease to avoid Sakuya's flame laser, I swung my god arc in a wide slash, gashing the side of its body. I made do with my current momentum, slash a few times, dodge, continue assault.

Crap..gotta watch my **stamina…**

*ROAAAAR*

Oh shi-

"BUARGH!"

After rapid combo strikes, I failed to notice the kongou launch an air blast at me, sending me almost flying into the wall.

"THAT GORILLA!" I pointed accusingly at it, "GIVE ME SOME WARNING NEXT TIME-"

"Rookie, watch out!"

Aw fudge.

*BAM*

This time, I think you could see my body frame against the wall.

Picking my self up, I felt my burst mode turn off. Sakuya was still out there, trying to distract it.

Damn…I don't feel so good…where the hell is Rags? We need him right now!

"Damnit…what the hell, Rags. Of all the damn times…"

"Get up."

What the…was that…?

I felt my body revitalise as some form of power flowed through me. Looking above, I saw the person who gave me the link aid: a familiar guy in a blue hoodie.

Soma, not the guy I really hoped to see, but nontheless…

"Hey, thanks man."

"I don't want any more baggage, now hurry up."

Nodding and making sure my lucky bandana was still on, Soma, Kota and I charged towards the Vajra. Swapping my god arc into my assault rifle, I took aim at Kota.

"Hey Kota, catch some!" I yelled towards the younger gods eater as I fired two aragami bullets at him.

"Whoa! I feel great!"

"Soma, take one!"

Using the final aragami bullet, I shot it towards Soma, who merely grunted in response, "I don't need your help, rookie. I can handle this alone."

"Ever thought that a boost could help you handle it alone, FASTER after that?"

"Hmm…" he grunted again as we simultaneously swung our god arcs, catching the Kongou which tried to take a bite at Kota off guard. Using the extra speed of the newly obtained link burst, Soma jumped high, as in REALLY high all the way onto the Kongou's head.

"Now stay down."

*WHAM*

The black god arc was swung, lodging itself in the Kongou's pipes before its owner pulled it out. Annoyed, the Kongou swatted Soma of him, enraging the aragami further.

"Shit!"

Spitting a curse as Soma hit me, both he and I were sent flying into a wall (second time for me…), the former landing on top of me. Back in the fray, Sakuya's bullets proved useless as the Kongou charged towards us.

"I only got one…looks like its time to use it," Sakuya reached into her pocket, "Kota, hit it with a shot, I need its attention here!"

"If your bullets didn't work…alright I'll try!" Kota, though a little uncertain, aimed his rifle at the lumbering Kongou.

"You know, you kind of need to get off me, Soma," I tried to push my senior of me, "that way I can actually move…"

"I did tell you to get out of my way."

"You didn't say that exact sentence a few lines ago…"

*ROAAAAR*

"Oh shit," the two of us swore.

Much to our surprise, the Kongou didn't attack us. Instead, it turned its head onto the two gunners.

"Sakuya, its reeling. NOW!"

"Everyone, cover your eyes!"

Oh yeah, its time for the flash grenade, BAYBE-

*BOOM*

Shutting my eyes JUST on time, I heard the loud boom of the stun grenade. The Kongou roared, now blinded by the flash.

"Now, GORILLA GANG BANG!" I yelled gleefully as I quickly untangled myself from Soma started to rush in for the kill. Launching my combo as I ducked my head (you never know when those bullets hit you…). Halfway through the slashes, I pulled the crank again.

"QUICK DEVOUR, SUCKA!" I pulled the blade back as I awesomely powered up again. The Kongou stood no chance, falling to the ground with a large THUD, "now time for the one, the only, the ALL AWESOME ASH SHIKIGAMI TO FINISH YOUR ASS OFF-"

"I swear, you're noisy."

*WAM*

The uncommon sight of a charge crush clouded my vision as Soma brought his black god arc down, smacking whatever life the Kongou had away.

"Man, that was so my kill!"

"Just extract the core and lets get out of here."

Despite the fact that we were all quarrelling and talking nonsense about stuff, a few thoughts plagued my mind.

The first: I really doubted that Rags went on a toilet trip. Moreover, I saw him go in boss' direction.

Secondly: Lindow, was definitely, NOT going on some sort of normal 'date'. I'm seriously suspecting a lot of things are going on here.

Thirdly…

Shoot, I'm hungry.

* * *

><p><strong>Back at HQ<strong>

When the four of us got back, we were pretty damn worried. Actually…more like I was pretty damned worried. Still haven't had any sight of that pair of designer glasses all time since we came back, not even a late arrival! Damn, I really didn't know anything about that guy…

Well, what we DID find was Lindow sitting cross-legged at the couch in the lobby, and wierdly enough: Rags

Bloody hell, Rags, why you ditch us and somehow come back miraculously with boss man? I swear the only thing holding me back now is this stupid plot line.

"Hey," Sakuya was the first to step forward, "you got back before us, good work today."

Your eyes, Sakuya, scream to the heavens "Why didn't you go on a date with me instead?" I should really help her with that sometime, Shikigami style of course!

"Yeah," he crushed the cigarette and placed it into the ash tray, "I managed to wrap things up early, ran into Ragner on the way back. So, how'd things go on your end?"

"As per your command, the same as usual. Though we did have a…minor accident…"

He SO whispered the last part, PUSSY!

Well, someone is grumpy, though I bet its got NOTHING AT ALL to do with me, right, readers?

"That's right," Sakuya nodded, "we fulfilled our mission, and didn't lose anyone. "

Kota was really excited, doing all that hand gestures and all, "You should have seen us! Brilliant teamwork, we were so tight!"

That sounded kind of dirty, Brota…

"Really?" Soma raised a brow and turned to the energetic boy, "I don't remember you being of much use…"

"What the?"

All of us (excluding emo-hoodie man) had a good laugh at that. In a sense, it was kind of true, actually.

"Is that right?" Lindow settled his laughter, "looks like it won't hurt to go on more dates in the future!"

Personally, as a fellow ladies man myself, I'm curious. Where does he find these chicks? Or wait, maybe he DOESN'T, AND HIS DATES ARE LIKE…SECRET MISSIONS?

…

Just…MAYBE.

"Hey," Kota moaned, "aren't you supposed to hook me up with some girls first?"

"That's my line, dammit!"

"Hah!" Lindow snorted at the two of us, "like you two would be able to handle a girl. Maybe the new type, someday."

Are you saying my skills are INSUFFICIENT?

Just as Sakuya and Soma let out sighs, the loudspeakers started to blare.

*Staff announcement. Earlier today, the 7th unit successfully detached the core of an Ouroboros. All engineers, please come to lab number 5.*

*Repeat. Ouroboros core successfully detatched. All engineers, please come to lab number 5*

Just as the announcement was made, a large, burly scientist with a yellow bandana and a smoke pushed past us and went into the elevator…

Hurm…seems suspicious…

Either way, the look on Sakuya's and even Soma's face was…something I never seen before. Hell, ever seen Soma SURPRISED before? The dudes at the lower deck were all talking about it. In fact, the only ones who didn't seem surprised or bothered…

…was Lindow and Rags.

Something was up...

"What's an Ouroboros, is it powerful?" Kota asked.

"It'll pop up if you search the terminal, do you homework once in awhile!"

Brota getting owned by Soma HARD today…

"Well uh-" Sakuya sounded uncertain, "I don't think the four of us are ready to take it on yet."

"Are you serious, not even a team like ours?"

"Yeah!" I nodded furiously, "I mean, we were so beast out there!"

"One or two casualties, definitely."

Woo…that sounds pretty bad, actually.

"Hey come on!" Lindow looked up and clapped his hands together, "if we can survive somehow, we'll get it one of these days. No need to worry about it now…just focus, on staying alive."

Yeah, yeah. The whole take it slow and steady speech is really…

"You know that's REALLY getting old," Soma rolled his eyes at the comment.

LINE STEALER!

"Right, and I'll say it to you till I'm blue in the face," Lindow shot back, his face turning serious, "you'd probably head off to your own death if I wasn't watching."

"Damn you. Shut up!"

It took me some seconds before I realised that his words were directed solely at Soma.

"Oh, yes _sir!" _Lindow replied, no hint of sarcasm hidden, "okay, I've got another date coming up, so I'm going for a hearty meal!"

Without so much as a goodbye, Lindow took the elevator and got out of our sight. Kota and I could do nothing more than look back forth between what had just happened between the three seniors.

"Damn it," Kota mumbled, "what's up with them?"

"Beats me," I nodded in agreement…

Giving me one final nod, Rags and I parted ways. However, I can seriously feel the suspicion going on within all of us.

Something's up in the den…and I my Ash-senses tell me that Rags and I…were going to be involved in a lot of shit soon.

I pray hope I'm wrong…really. Because when I'm right...

Bad things happen...

* * *

><p>AND HEADSLAM!<p>

Man, Rags and I can't wait for the chapter after this! Well, I am at least! It may take awhile again though, so keep your pants up! WAI? NO SPOILER FOR YOU, HAH!

Read and Review!


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